


Careless Wonder

by 9thdimen



Category: Bleach
Genre: F/M, Romantic Comedy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-15
Updated: 2013-11-30
Packaged: 2018-01-01 16:52:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 64,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1046242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/9thdimen/pseuds/9thdimen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A girl with strange light red hair, borderline pink, appears out of nowhere from Ichigo's past and demands that she speaks with his father... and why is Urahara looking for her? Ichigo/oc Rating will change. Not completed, yet.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One: Remembering

Careless Wonder

Chapter One: Remembering

_A fisted hand made direct contact to the orange-hair child's cheek, a bit of blood trickled from his lower left lip. He took the pains and beating, not once trying to fight back. Even if he did find the strength, he was always outnumbered. They always attacked him in groups, anyways. It was easier to pick on a child when you have others to back you up._

" _Aw," the leader began as he gripped the orange hair of the child and pulled to make him look up toward him. "Is the little kid going to cry?" He laughed as he smiled wickedly at the defenseless kid, feeling triumphant over the power he had over the child. "If ya didn't have this crazy orange hair here, then maybe we wouldn't be picking on ya, freak." His fist made contact with the child's face once more, smiling as he saw more blood trickle down his chin._

" _Hey…" A small voice called from behind the boys. A small and very bored sounding voice._

_All four of the boys turned around to see a little girl with light red hair, borderline pink, wearing a black sleeveless hoodie with the hood part over her head and a pair of regular blue jeans. She looked at them with a rather bored expression._

" _Stay out of this, kid," the boy who had the orange hair grasped in his gritty hands, warned. "You don't want any of this." He turned his attention back to the little boy but stopped when he felt a hand grab his wrist that gripped the hair. The girl appeared next to him, her bright, light blue eyes staring up at the middle schooler with disinterest. The lackey's that were holding the kid down were wide eyed, not even seeing her move in the first place._

_The leader ignored the fact she appeared out of nowhere as he growled at the girl, which only caused her to raise an eyebrow in return. "So you want in on this?" He turned to face her, ripping his wrist from her grasp. She took a step back eyeing him as she looking him up and down, dissecting him with her eyes._

" _This is going to be boring," the girl declared, sighing to herself._

" _That's it." He grabbed the girl by the collar, lifting her up ever so slightly off the ground. "You asked for it." He brought his fist back and swung forward. The orange haired kid eyes widened as the boys fist came down on the girl, but his breath hitched when the boys fist stopped, his face turning red with pain. He yelped and let go of the girl, falling backwards while gripping his crotch area._

" _What the hell! That was cheap!" a boy holding the little orange haired kids left arm yelled out._

_She brought her gaze back to the three other boys, her eyes looking at them hard. "And four against one little boy is fair?"_

_They let the orange hair kid go, forgetting about him almost completely as all three took a step toward her. "Look at her hair, it's almost as weird as carrot's hair."_

" _She had to dye it, no way that's natural," another said._

" _Doesn't matter," the third said, taking another step. "She's dead." He ran toward her, his fist flying right at her. She closed her eyes and took a step to her side when he was only inches away from her. His eyes widened as he tripped forward, but before his body made contact with the ground a knee stuck out making contact with his stomach._

_The other two eyes went wide as they saw their friend fall to the ground, holding his stomach in pain. She looked up at the two and yawned. "Letting a little girl beat you is pretty pathetic. Makes you look weak," she taunted._

_Fire shown in their eyes and they both charged forward, fists flying. They both simultaneously tried to punch her, but she jumped into the air, her feet making contact with their faces. They fell back, faces red from a small foot print and blood pouring from their noses. She landed next to the orange hair kid and turned to watch as the four boys yelled, stumbling to get up and not looking back. Probably too embarrassed to._

_The orange haired kid watched as they ran. Then a hand came into view, palm up. He looked up to see the eyes of the girl now looking down at him, her eyes showing a bit of curiosity. He looked back at her hand and reached out with his own tentatively and grasped hers as she helped him stand up. As he stood up to his full height he realized he was a little bit taller than her. She was around the same age as him, maybe younger._

" _Are…" she hesitated, like she was trying to find the right words. Unsure of herself. "Are you okay?"_

_He nodded, not speaking as he stared into her blue eyes and then glancing at her strange red hair that hung loosely at the sides of her face, barely longer than her chin._

_She lightly smiled. "My name's Aria Diederich, it's nice to meet you…?"_

_The orange hair boy hesitated as he looked at the strange girl. He gulped but decided it was okay to give his name to the strange girl since she saved him. "Ichigo… Ichigo Kurosaki."_

_She blinked a couple of times as she took in the new information. "Kurosaki?" He nodded and then she suddenly gave him a smile that seemed out of place considering how she beat up those boys without much emotion. "I know your father." Her smile grew. "I didn't know someone else was like me. I thought I was the only one."_

Ichigo's eyes blinked as he slowly began to wake up, his eyes finding the familiar room he slept in almost every night. He sat up, the blanket falling down revealing his bare chest and pooling around his waist, his hand pressed to his face as he sighed.

He hadn't thought about that day in a long time. He almost forgot about her completely until that dream. It was out of character for him to even remember a face let alone a name of a person he only met once. Looking back on it now he began to realize how strange that girl was, stranger than what he originally thought she was.

How fast she moved… how she appeared out of nowhere.

His eyes grew wide realizing now what she was doing.

She was using flash step.

It was obvious now with his new found (not really new), knowledge of what she was doing that day. He began to wonder why now, of all days, he was dreaming of that strange girl when so much time passed. Maybe it was because he felt more relaxed, open to the world after defeating Aizen… no, that can't be it.

"Ichigo! Ichigo, breakfast is ready, Ichigo!" Yuzu, one of his younger sisters said as she knocked on his door.

He looked at his door and simply sighed. No use pondering over someone he'll probably never meet again. "Yeah, give me a second Yuzu, I'll be right down there."

He heard her footsteps walk away as he scratched his arms and brought his feet over and down to the ground. He was in his boxers, he didn't even bother getting dressed for bed; he simply took a shower and put some boxers on then passed out on his bed for the night. In fact, last night was his first night he slept through in a very, very long time.

His hand grasped his mouth to catch the yawn escaping his lips and then brought it to his right eye to rub the sleep from it. He rummaged through his clothes and found his school uniform he wore the previous day. After taking a whiff and realizing that it smelled fine, he slipped into them and jogged down stairs to get him some grub.

"Ichigoooo!" A foot came flying at his face and he easily side stepped out of the way making his father fly into the wall behind him and breaking it with his foot.

"GAHHH! Ichigo! Why didn't you stop me! Look at the wall!" His father wailed as he gaped at the hole in the wall he made with his foot.

"It's not my fault you're an idiot. You should know by now your stunts can't get to me anymore," he said with a deadpan ton and walked into the kitchen to sit down at the table with his sisters.

"Look Ichigo," Yuzu said chirpily as she placed pancakes on his plate. "I made blueberry pancakes. Don't they look yummy?"

Ichigo smiled at his younger, innocent sister. "They look delicious, Yuzu."

Her cheeks turned a slight pink as she sat back in her seat putting two pancakes on her own plate. Ichigo reached for the syrup and watched from the corner of his eye as his father slinked into his seat. He wondered… "Hey dad, do you know anyone by the name of Aria Diederich?" Man, that last name sounded so strange.

His father stopped at what he was doing, the pancake slipping off the spatula and falling onto the table. His eyes were wide with shock, almost like he just saw a ghost. He turned toward his son, his face becoming rather serious as he looked at Ichigo. "Why do you ask? Has this person contacted you recently?"

"Uh, no, I just remembered her from a long time ago and I remember her saying she knew you, that's all…"

His father smiled his goofy smile as his eyes twinkled at his only son. "Why no I don't, son. Is this some girlfriend of yours that you remembered and you want to rekindle the love you guys use to share…?" He went on and on and on about the matter, obviously trying to avoid the subject. Ichigo just sighed seeing that it was useless to ask of someone to his dad when he clearly didn't want to talk about it. He took a bit from his pancake and chewed slowly as he ignored the onslaught of his father telling him he needed to find a woman to bring him grandkids.

Ichigo still pondered over his dream as he walked to High school with his notebook bag slung over his shoulder. Even while in school as his classes started, he thought about his dream, trying to pick up on anything that would tell him more about this girl.

At lunch he sat on the roof with his food and ate it slowly as he looked ahead of him at nothing in particular, still pondering over it. He still didn't get anywhere and the more he thought about his father's reaction when he mentioned the name, the more he got curious about her.

"Hey Ichigo," A familiar voice said to his left. He turned and saw Keigo Asano walking toward him, his arm raised into a wave.

"Oh, hey Keigo, what's up?"

Keigo shrugged his shoulders. "Oh nothing, just scooping out the girls, seeing who I want to ask to prom at the end of the year."

"Oh yeah, and did you find anyone that you would ask?"

Keigo's eyes began to water. "Nope, not one. They all glared at me."

Ichigo sighed but smiled nonetheless. Keigo was a strange kid, but he was glad that he was his friend. He always seemed to bring Ichigo into a better mood when he was around making jokes, (Of course, Keigo doesn't realize that he's 'joking around', he being completely serious).

He sat down next to Ichigo and placed his lunch on his lap. "So," he began as he dug into his sandwich. "What were you thinking about? You seemed deep in thought about something." Then he gave him a sideways glance. "Are you in trouble again or something?"

Ichigo smiled sheepishly at his friend. "No, it's not that, I was just remembering about an old friend of mine with I was younger." Then his eyes narrowed at his so called friend. "And why did you think I was in trouble? Do you think I always get into trouble all the time?"

Keigo shrugged. "Eh, yeah, most of the time." Then his eyes sparkled at his friend as a huge grin covered most of his face. "So who is she? Is she hot?"

Ichigo was taken back, his cheeks growing pink. "What? No! Nothing like that. I just remembered her suddenly from when I was like… I dunno, five or something."

Keigo pouted. "Well that's no fun. So, what's her name?"

"Aria Diederich. Do you know her?"

Keigo pondered on it as he thought about the name. "That's a strange name but, no, I don't know her."

Ichigo looked away, his eyes slightly casted by the shadows of his hair. "Oh."

"Hey there, Ichigo. Don't look so depressed, if it's someone important I'm pretty sure you'll see her again." He took a large bite out of his sandwich and tried to speak again. "Besi' why du you 'are?" he gulped down his bite and continued. "It's been years since you last seen her so why bother with knowing her now?"

Ichigo sighed for the 100th time that day. "Your right, I shouldn't care. It's just, she was so… weird. She had the weirdest hair color which was a light red color, almost pink, and she was wearing this hoodie with the sleeves ripped off. She also had these light blue eyes, as blue as the sky actually." Ichigo looked up at the sky as he thought of the girls face again. He wondered what she looked like now if she was even still alive. What a morbid thought, she was most likely alive but somewhere away from Karakura town.

"Hey, you said she had light red hair and had a hoodie with the sleeves ripped off?"

Ichigo turned toward his friend again and nodded.

Keigo blinked a couple of times, then smiled. "Hey, yesterday I saw a girl that looked like that walking through town… well, not really walking, more like trailing after some street thugs and then disappearing down an alleyway with them."

Ichigo's eyes grew wide with this new information. "Really?"

Keigo nodded. "Would I ever lie to you?"

* * *

As Ichigo walked home he took the long way in hopes he would see this girl Keigo was talking about. He had high hopes that it was the same girl from his past since the description almost fit perfectly. Who else had light red head and wore a hoodie with ripped off sleeves? Even though it would be strange that her style of clothing hadn't changed.

His walk home was in disappointment when he didn't see the person he was looking for. He took his shoes off when he entered the house and put his book bag on the ground deciding he was going to do his homework later on that night and relax before his father got home from the clinic. His two sisters weren't home yet so he had the house to himself for about the next thirty minutes or so.

He walked into the kitchen, and then to the fridge where he began to chug some juice he found and putting in back in the fridge not caring that he got his so called germs all over it. His sisters would just have to get over it. He walked into the living room and leaned against the back of the couch with the clicker in hand as he turned on the TV and flipped through the channels. Nothing was on as usual. Even the news had nothing interesting on besides the weather.

Maybe he should do his homework now instead of later. He switched the TV off and turned around to walk to the stairs when suddenly the doorbell rang.

"Who could that be?" he asked no one in particular as he walked over to the door and casually opened it.

He stopped and stared at the person in front of him, his chin practically hitting the ground in complete and utter surprise. "I-I-I-I…I-I-I It's you!" He pointed his finger at the person as if he was accusing them of being a murder suspect.

The light blue eyes looked at him with curiosity; a light, questionable smile on her soft lips. Standing in front of Ichigo was the very girl he was dreaming about last night, but taller with more curves and… boobs. Her bust wasn't as big as Orihime, (not like he looks… okay he looked once but that's when his face was face to face with it), and Rangiku's, but definitely fit the curve of her body perfectly. Her round hips and tiny waist would make… GAH! Why the hell was he even looking? Damn it! He was turning into a pervert like his dad!

She still looked the same besides the more... erm - womanly parts. He still couldn't see her face too much since it was covered by a shadow from her hoodie, which only made her light blue eyes pop out more than it normally would. Her hoodie was purple with holes in the front for pockets and the sleeves ripped off from the side showing off her lean yet muscular arms, (not to muscular that it looked nasty). And her blue jeans hugged against her full hips and legs… Damn it!

"It's… me?" She asked him a little confused. Her voice was soft but held a little raspy ring to it like she had a cold.

"What are you doing here?" Ichigo's facial expression didn't change as he still looked at the girl with surprise and wonder.

She tilted her head forward to look inside. "Is your dad here, Ichigo?"

He stopped with the ridiculous expression and looked at her with confusion. "You remember my name?"

Her light smile dropped and that's when Ichigo could see the dark circles that adorned her eyes as she looked at him with boredom. "Why wouldn't I? I did save you that one time when you were getting your ass kicked by a couple of middle schoolers." She closed her eyes and sighed. "I'm guessing he's not home yet since he would have greeted me by now. So… can I come in?" she looked back up at him, her expression not changing.

Ichigo gave her a hard look as he pondered over it. Should he let her in? He didn't know her and for all he knew she was some mass murderer that was looking to kill his father.

He shook his head from the thought and turned to his side gesturing for her to come it. "Yeah, come on in."

She hesitated, almost like she wasn't expecting him to ask her in without questions. She took a step forward tentatively and walked in, her eyes searching around his house. He closed the door and turned around to watch her take off her sneakers. She walked further into the house and into the kitchen. There she finally reached up and slowly took off her hoodie. Her hair was the same color as he remembered but much longer and in a ponytail with strands of hair falling lose here and there and around her face with bangs covering her forehead. She turned around to look at him, her sky blue eyes looking into his brown ones. He noticed that her features were relatively soft. Her cheeks bones were softly curved and went well with her cheeks, her nose was small and her eyebrows were small and thin. But her eyes were sharp and calculating and her chin seemed more firm and angular than the rest of her face giving her a look of wisdom, or something along those lines. One feature that caught his eye that was new was a tattoo above her left eyebrow which only consisted of four letters: AWHD. In other words, she was beautiful.

But for him, he didn't base characters off of looks as he watched her move around with a predatory gleam, waiting for her to make any type of mistake, indicating she was someone that wasn't there on friendly terms. He wasn't quick to trust, no matter what the past told him.

"What do you want with my father?" He asked, straight to the point.

She stood there looking at him, her eyes debating on something. Finally, she looked away to nowhere in particular. "I was hoping he could tell me. He was the one who invited me."

That surprised Ichigo. So his father did know something about this girl. So, his dream wasn't a coincidence. But why did he dream about this girl the day she came to visit?

Suddenly, the door behind him slammed open and an all too familiar voice rang out. "ICHIGOOOOO!" he side stepped from his father's tackle and watched him face plant into the ground. Aria looked at him with confusion, her eyes wide and her irises and pupil constricted so small you couldn't even see them; on the side of her face was a small sweat drop as she watched him twitch on the ground.

When he rolled over to his back and looked up at his son he finally noticed the other presence in the house. He shot up and narrowed his eyes down at the girl, making Ichigo tense from his intense stare he was giving her. Was it a mistake to invite her in?

"Aria Diederich." His father said, almost no emotion in his voice.

"Isshin Sibia." That made Ichigo tense even further.

"Kurosaki. Isshin Kurosaki," he fixed for her.

"I know."

They continued to stare at each other not daring to move. Ichigo began to wonder if he should go get Cone from upstairs in case something broke out. But before he could even take a step forward his father did so himself, casually walking over to Aria and standing directly in front of her.

Ichigo gritted his teeth, not liking how this was going to turn out. His sisters would be home soon and he didn't want them to get in the middle of it.

But, out of nowhere his father began to tear up and sniffle as he reached down and grabbed Aria in a bear hug. "Look at how much you've grown!" He rubbed his face into her chest back and forth and Ichigo face turned bright red wondering if his father knew what he was doing. "I'm so glad you're here!" he cried out.

Aria legs wiggled back and forth as she tried to get free from his grasp, not liking the feeling of his face on her boobs. "Let me go old man!" she yelled at him, her own face bright red and her eyes narrowed at the perverted, retired Shinigami. Finally, she kicked him in the stomach causing him to let her go and falling backwards onto his back with a pain expression. She landed gracefully on her feet and crossed her arms over her chest as she glared down at the old man, her face still red. "You've haven't changed a bit, you greedy bastard."

Ichigo's father laughed as he sat up and rubbed his stomach. "I could say that same to you, but…" he became serious suddenly, the change in his mood was almost uncanny, as he stood up and put a hand onto her shoulder. He gazed into her eyes as he searched for the words he wanted to say. His eyes laid heavily on the bags under her eyes. "How have you been since…"

She looked away from him, glaring at the wall. "I'm fine. Nothing changed, you don't have to bring it up."

Isshin decided to change the subject as he took his hand back and placed it back to his side. "You know Urahara's been looking for you. He's been worried."

Again, Ichigo tensed as he mentioned that name. Why was Urahara looking for this girl? "Anyone care to elaborate here?" Ichigo asked, his arms crossed in annoyance. "I hate being left out of the conversation."

Aria put her hand in her pockets and closed her eyes. Isshin smiled down at his son and winked.


	2. Chapter Two: Cold

Careless Wonder

Chapter Two: Cold

Ichigo's eyes twitched back and forth from his father and the girl named Aria. All three sat at the kitchen table sipping tea… Sipping tea like they supposedly did it every day! (Isshin and Aria sat across from one another and Ichigo sat at the end of the table closest to them). Earlier, when his two sisters arrived back from school his father made sandwiches and sent them both to their rooms giving the excuse that their young ears hadn't matured enough to listen in on their conversation. Itchigo's face was red with his own hand print after his sisters went upstairs.

He watched as Aria reached for the salt shaker and began to shake some salt into her tea, his eyes bulged out of their sockets as she did so. "What are you doing?!" He said with disgust as Aria took a sip of her salted tea.

She peeked her eye at him as she sipped. "It wasn't salty enough."

"Tea isn't supposed to be salty!"

"So says you." She placed the tea cup on the table, her hands tightening around it as she watched the hazel liquid swirl in the cup. "Why did you want me to come see you, Isshin? I hope it's something important."

Isshin set his own tea cup down as he looked up to see her face. She didn't bother to meet his gaze. "You do know Aizen was defeated. There is no need for you to hide anymore."

Aria's left eye twitched as she glanced up at the old Shinigami from behind her bangs. "Was that all? To tell me something I already know? This was a waste of my time."

"I wasn't finished." Isshin stared solemnly at the red haired teen. "Like I said, you don't have to hide anymore. Stay here with my family and live a normal life that doesn't involve looking over your shoulder every second of every day."

Ichigo stared at the girl watching to see her reaction. He was against the idea of letting a stranger live in their home, but his father seemed to trust her so he didn't voice his opinion on the matter. He, in a way, trusted his dads' judgment with this particular girl (Also due to the fact he felt like he owed her for saving him in the past). Even though he didn't voice his thoughts, his eye still twitched when his father suggested the idea.

"I don't need your sympathy, old man. Just because you and my mother were childhood friends doesn't mean you should feel obligated to take care of me after her death." She sounded rather annoyed about the idea.

Ichigo noticed how his father's eyes hardened when she mentioned her mother's death, her, on the other hand, didn't seemed as fazed by her words. Isshin's lips set to a fine line. "I didn't mean it like that. There's people who are worried about you and want to know that you are okay. You can't keep up this charade…"

She slammed her hand down as she got up from her seat glaring down at Isshin with anger. "You have no idea what you're talkin' about! I don't have _friends,_ Isshin. I don't have anyone and I don't need someone or anyone. I've lived alone since I was ten and nothing has to change. I did fine then I can manage now. You're such an idiot!"

Ichigo stood up this time, his hands turned to fists at his sides. "What the hell is wrong with you? He's only trying to help you and all you can do is call him an idiot for worrying about you!"

"This has nothing to do with you so stay out of it," she said between clenched teeth, her eyes shifting from Isshin and Ichigo. She didn't have any idea why he was in this conversation in the first place. It had nothing to do with him. Why did Isshin allow him to stay?"

"Calm down, Ichigo," His father said calmly as he looked at his son with a level stare. He glanced back at Aria, his eyes actually softening. "I'm sorry to upset you, Aria. I only want what's best for you."

"Damn it," she half sighed, half seethed. "Stop it. You're not my father."

Isshin stood up this time sighing mostly to himself, his palms laid flat against the table. "No, I'm not. But your father did ask me to take care of you if he ever passed un-expectantly, as well as your mother. I was planning on keeping that promise but you up and disappeared on us. It wasn't until a few days ago Urahara found out your location. If you didn't want us to find you then why did you give away your location?" He stared down at her, Ichigo now noticing the height difference. Aria was pretty short, if he had to guess he suspected she only went up to his mid chest.

Aria looked away, unable to look into the older Soul Reapers eyes. She sat back down with her arms crossed, emotions flashing through her eyes as she thought about something. Isshin mimicked her move and sat down as well. Ichigo, however, stayed standing up as he watched the two with his own arms crossed but only from annoyance.

"I…" She hesitated. She chewed on her bottom lip and closed her eyes, her lip now sheathed underneath her upper teeth. "I lost control."

Isshin's eyes widened at the new information. Then was set back to firm as he stared intently at the young girl. "Did anyone get hurt? Or…"

She shook her head, diverting her gaze toward something to her left. "No one was there. Not this time."

"Okay, that's it." Ichigo sat down but still had his arms crossed as he stared down the two people at his table. "What the hell are you guys talking about? I'm going to find out sooner or later so spill it."

Aria shook her head and Isshin just sighed. "It's…" Isshin began but thought better of what he was going to say. "Well, actually you would understand." Aria finally looked at the man with her eyebrow raised with question. He glanced at her and said, "You see, Ichigo here is a Visard as well, but unlike you he can control his… other side… to a certain extent at least."

Ichigo's eyes grew wide with surprise as he looked at the girl who stared back at him equally surprised. "I – I think I'm starting to understand."

"Great," Her voice thick with sarcasm. "I just love bonding."

"What the…" He raised his voice, ready to insult, but his father cut him off.

"Ichigo, enough!" His father warned.

"What! She started it!"

Isshin turned his attention back to Aria ignoring his own son. "He knows people that can help you. The very same people that helped him. Stay here with us for a bit until you learn to control it. Then after that you can go anywhere you want without me protesting."

Aria sighed. She brought her hand to her face pinching the bridge of her nose as she thought. "Do I even have a choice?" She said mostly to herself. She looked back up at Isshin and leaned back in her seat while crossing her arms once more. "Fine. But any funny business and I'm out of here."

Isshin shot up from his seat with his right fist extended up into the air, his eyes sparkling with pride. "Yes! I win! I have yet another daughter to love and care for."

Aria smacked her head to the table and groaned. Ichigo slapped his hand to his face for the second time. "You're an idiot," Aria groaned out.

Isshin coughed into his hand and crossed his arms, his chin high in the air, his eyes set in determination. "Now head over to Urahara's and show him you're still alive. You can at least do that much on your own."

"No. I'm not going to go see that pervert."

His eyes bugged out of his head, his face turning red. "If it wasn't for Urahara you wouldn't even be here!" He argued.

"Well, the last time I went there he drugged me. Who knows what he did to me when I was passed out!" Aria stood up with her hand fisted in front of her face while showing her teeth with distaste.

Ichigo mouth fell open. "He did what!"

Aria turned her head to the orange hair teen, her expression not changing. "Yeah, he drugged me while he offered me food and I found myself outside in the rain in front of his shop with his doors locked!"

Ichigo's eyebrow twitched as he thought about it. "No wonder you ran away."

Isshin slapped his hands to his cheeks and shook it back and forth quickly. "He would never do such a thing! He used to be a captain! And it doesn't matter you're going there whether you like it or not!" He turned toward his son suddenly appearing in front of him as he gripped his shoulders, his eyes on fire as he stared down his only son. "And you're going to make sure she makes it there!"

"I'm what! I never agreed to this!"

* * *

Ichigo kicked the rock that found its way into his path as he trailed behind Aria who had her hands in her front pockets and her hoodie back on. After arguing further with his father he finally gave up and dragged Aria out by the arm while she herself protested. However, she agreed to go when Isshin followed them outside and told them not to stop anywhere to do any funny business. When he said that sentence they could hear the double meaning.

"I swear I'm adopted," Ichigo kicked another rock and he slumped forward with his hands in his own pockets and glaring at the girl in front of him. Damn, way to spend his evening babysitting a grown woman.

But he couldn't get the thought out of his mind when she said she had another accident and was a Visard like him, but – couldn't control it. Depending how strong she was, that could lead to absolute devastation wherever she lost control. But, how did she lose control and… what was she? Is she a Soul Reaper?

' _I didn't know there was someone else like me. I thought I was the only one.'_ He remembered her saying. His eyes grew wide at that bit of knowledge. She knew what he was – and she was someone just like him.

"Hey," He called out. "Are you a Soul Reaper?" He was straight to the point, not caring he was being blunt going about it. He sort of already knew her answer.

Aria turned her head to the side to look back at him then turned forward to look ahead again. "No."

"A Substitute Soul Reaper?"

She snorted, "Not even close."

"Then what are you?"

"Something."

Ichigo felt his eyebrow twitch with extreme annoyance. "Are you always this vague?"

"I try to be."

He increased his speed making his strides longer until he was walking parallel from the red head. "Well stop being too vague. If you want me to help you, you need to open up a little bit more."

She stopped and turned her head to glare at the orange haired teen. "And why should I tell you anything? You're losing your powers after all. I can feel your damn Reitsu disappearing slowly as the seconds tick by. So why should I trust you with any information when you're going to be like any other human being? To tell you the truth, I know you are incapable of helping me. You're too weak and useless." She turned sharp on her heel and continued to walk toward Urahara's shop not bothering to wait up for the shocked Itchigo.

He stood there, staring at the spot Aria was just at, unable to look away.

She – was right. He was losing his powers slowly, growing weaker and weaker as the days passed. He turned his head slightly to the right to watch her walk off but was surprised to see that she stopped and was looking back at him. Her eyes held level with his when he looked up at her. He didn't understand why she had stopped to look back. It confused the hell out of him.

She closed her eyes and shook her head and turned back to walk on her desires path. Ichigo watched her for another second or two, then finally moved on after her, but keeping his distance as they walked in silence.

* * *

The sun was setting over the horizon when they finally reached Urahara's shop. She stopped her walking and looked up at the shop, sighing to herself. "Hasn't changed." She said mostly to herself. Her eyes set on the door as her foot took a step forward and stopped, hesitated. Her breath hitched in her throat when an image of her popped up to her mind bloody and on the brink of death, lying on those very floors inside the shop. She brought her leg back to her side as she cursed herself. She was being weak.

"Is there anything wrong?" Ichigo asked from behind as he watched her hesitation.

She turned her head to look at him from the corner of her left eye. He stared back at her and she could still see the emotional hurt in his eyes she herself inflicted. She turned her head again, not caring. "Nothing. I was just thinking about the last time I was here. The place hasn't changed. Typical really."

She took in a slow breath of air and walked forward. She opened the door and took a step inside with Ichigo following close by. The store seemed empty, the lights were off giving the shop an ominous feeling. "Well, this is strange. Someone is usually always here." Ichigo sighed to himself not liking how his day had been going.

"Um, excuse me," A small, soft voice said from behind. Both Ichigo and Aria jumped forward and twirled around with their eyes wide. "Sorry for scaring you. Is there anything you need?"

"Oh, Ururu, it's just you," Ichigo dusted the invisible dirt off his clothes acting like nothing happened and the fact he wasn't scared from the little girl that suddenly popped up behind them in the doorway. "Where's Kiskue? Is he here?"

Ururu nodded, her hand tightened around the handle of the broom she was holding. "He's in the back checking inventory." Suddenly, a kid with red hair popped out of nowhere and smacked the little girl across the head. She dropped the broom to bring her hands to her head where she cupped the wound with her tiny fingers.

"Ururu, what are you doing? The shop isn't going to get clean with you just standing there doing nothing!" He gritted his teeth at the girl but soon stopped and turned toward the two teens, his eyes glancing back and forth between them. "What do you guys want?"

"Aria…" She froze when her name was called from an all too familiar voice from behind her. She slowly turned around with Ichigo following her moves and looked at the blonde hair man with a hat and hard stare set visible in his eyes. "It's been awhile."

Again, Ichigo felt uncomfortable as the two stared at each other, the tension between the too almost visible in the air. Urahara was the first to move as he walked over to the red haired teen, his eyes never leaving hers. Aria visibly flinched when he was standing in front of her, but didn't break eye contact with the blonde man.

Then Urahara did something Ichigo wasn't expecting. He wrapped his left arm around her shoulders and brought her to his chest in a soft hug. She let him drag her forward until her forehead laid against his chest, her eyes not closing as she stared forward. "It's been too long. I don't understand why you left I could have protected you, kept you here in secret. No one would have found you."

Finally, Aria closed her eyes, she brought her arms up and wrapped them around his waist, returning the hug. "Because I wouldn't have forgave myself if anything happened to you, idiot."


	3. Chapter Three: Arrangements

Careless Wonder

Chapter Three: Arrangements

"You know," Urahara started as he looked down at the red haired teen. "You've really filled out the last six years… UMPF!" Urahara slumped forward holding onto his stomach from pain. Aria glared down at him with displeasure, a little vein popping on her forehead.

"You've haven't changed."

Urahara looked up at her with a pained smile, a little sweat trailing down the side of his face. "You haven't either," he groaned out. He winced when he stood up straight, tears of pain in the corner of his eyes. "Is that any way to treat your old master?"

Aria snorted. "You're not my teacher anymore, perverted jackass, so get over it."

"Aw, that hurts my feelings. After everything we've been through you still treat me like a stranger." He stuck his lip out like he was actually pouting, trying to make her feel bad. It didn't work.

"Maybe if you weren't such a pervert I might treat you with more respect!"

Urahara closed his eyes in thought as he shook his head with a smile. "Same old Aria." When he opened his eyes, he looked upon her with seriousness. "All joking aside I want to know your current situation. I know you've lost control again, that would make it the third time I believe, so how far has it progressed." It wasn't a question, Ichigo noticed, he was, in a way, demanding the answer out of her.

Aria sighed. Ichigo watched from the corner of his eye as she looked away from Kisuke, almost like she was trying to find the nerve to tell him the truth. Again, he saw her chewing on her bottom limp as she battled with whatever was making her hesitate with the question. He was starting to understand that was something she did involuntary when it came to situations such as this.

"Do you want to speak in another room alone?" He glanced over at Ichigo before settling his eyes on her once again to asses her reaction. Of course, that wasn't the case in why she hesitated.

"He already knows my situation. And… it's just…" Her hand darted up toward her head and took of her hoodie in order to lace her fingers through her bangs, getting the longer stands out of her face. "Damn it, Kisuke, I'm at my wits ends here. I don't think I can afford to lose control again, I might change all the way and be a mindless, emotionless monster that wants nothing more than to kill anything that it sees."

"And that bothers you."

She flashed him a glare before looking toward the ground at her white and blue sneakers. "Of course it does. Why wouldn't it. I don't even know why you would say something like that."

"If I remember correctly," Urahara began as he pulled an old memory from their past. "You wanted nothing more than to feel numb. To be emotionless and not care what goes on around you. To forget your past and not care of what the future holds for you."

Again, she flashed him another glare, but looked away from his all-knowing stare. Oh, how she hated that look. "I was young, stupid. I didn't mean what I said. If… if it wasn't for those memories, I wouldn't have survived this long." She cracked a smile, but it wasn't one of happiness or glee, more of sadness and mockery as she thought about her past self. "I probably would have committed suicide by now if…"

"If what?"

She scoffed. "Nothing. Doesn't matter now. All that matters is that I'm here now and I want to change, to be a better person, so to speak, and I wanted you to know so you can stop your foolish search for me when I leave again. When I overcome this obstacle I'll be more than capable of taking care of myself."

Urahara cracked his own smile as he looked down at his old student. "That's all I needed to hear. So," he turned sharply on his heel as he waved them forward to follow him. "Who's hungry?"

* * *

Aria eyed the rice and chicken that was placed in front of her. Her left crossed leg twitching up and down as her impatient stomach growled as soon as she smelled the delicious food. Urahara, on the other hand, broke apart his chopsticks and stared gleefully down at the food presented to him.

Ichigo eyed his own food but took the chopsticks and broke them apart nonetheless. "Don't you think this is a little much?" The bowl was larger than his torso, packed high with rice, chicken, and chicken gravy.

"Nonsense," Urahara said happily as he dug into his food first taking in a mouthful. When he swallowed he looked over at Ichigo's skeptical stare with a grin. "Besides, you need to eat more. You're too thin and boney, you need to add more muscle and fat to that deplorable body of yours."

"What the hell does that mean, Kisuke?!"

"Exactly as it sounds. Enough chatter and more eating!" He declared as he lifted his bowl near his face and began to scarf his food down.

"Tsh, like I'm trusting you. You probably poisoned it again," Aria snorted. Ichigo spat his food out, rubbing the chopstick against his tongue as he remembered Aria's story.

"What! Why would I ever do that! I'm shocked you would even accuse me of such a horrible thing!"

Aria growled and bared her teeth. "Don't play dumb with me, you remember perfectly well what happened last time! Jackass."

Urahara looked appalled by her accusation, tears forming in his eyes as he looked at the young girl he almost raised himself when she was a toddler. "That hurts my feelings." When she didn't flinch he smiled sweetly at her and reached forward with his chopsticks and took a piece of her chicken and some rice. He stuffed it in his mouth, chewed, then swallowed. After a second of Aria's continues stare he smiled at her with triumph and a thumbs up. "See. Not poisoned. Besides, Ichigo here will watch over you if I did do such a horrible thing to you. He's a bigger prune than you are."

"You're really starting to piss me off, Kisuke," Ichigo growled at the older Soul Reaper, his eyes narrowed and his own vein popping on his forehead.

Aria snorted. She reached down and grabbed the chopsticks, breaking them into two. Once placed in the right position she tentatively reached down and took a small portion into her chopsticks. She brought it forward near her nose, sniffed, turn her eyes to glare at Urahara and stuck the portion in her mouth, chewed and swallowed. She sat there a second with her eyes closed. Satisfied that the food wasn't poisoned she reached into her pocket and pulled out a salt shaker and began to shake more than half of its contents into her bowl before lift the bowl in her left hand and began to pile the food into her mouth.

"Do you always carry around salt?" ichigo asked with a monotone voice. She looked up at him, glared, then continued to stuff as much food in her mouth as possible, ignoring his question.

Looked like she was hungry. Ichigo sighed but continued to eat as he thought over today's events. So, she was a Vizard like him and couldn't control her hollow side. She's been on the run from who knows what, probably Aizen since she decided to show up a couple of days after his sentence, and was now determined to set things right. What that right was, he didn't know.

One thing he knew, though, was when she lost control something bad always happened and he couldn't help but wonder that that bad was something close to her. Something dear to her heart.

Urahara patted his stomach and he smiled down at the now empty bowls of his two visitors along with his own. "See, I only want what's best for you." He clapped his hands together and Ururu came in with bowls of soup along with the hot headed Jinta. They placed the bowls of soup in front of the three and left without a word.

"I think I had enough," Ichigo said as he pushed the bowl of soup away from him. He couldn't eat another bit even if he wanted to.

Urahara smirked at Ichigo, but soon turned his gaze to look at Aria. Ichigo followed his gaze and was surprised to see Aria's eyes partially glazed.

"You… Bastard…" She got out before her head flew forward and slapped into the soup below her, bubbles forming around her head.

"What the hell, Kisuke! What did you do?!" Ichigo yelled, getting up from his seat off the ground and ran around to see if Aria was alright.

"What? It was the only way for me to do..." he reached into his pocket and pulled out a black bracelet. "This." He snapped the bracelet around her wrist. Ichigo watched as it glowed and tightened, almost like it was melding into her skin. "There, now I know where she'll be at for as long as she has on my bracelet."

"You know she's going to be pissed when she wakes up, and how the hell did you poison her? You took a bit of her food, too."

A mischievous smile crossed the old captains' face as he looked down at the orange haired teen who was still crouched next to Aria's unconscious body. "You see, I knew the next time she wouldn't fall for my same trick so over the past six years I slowly built an intolerance!" He said matter of fact as he chuckled at his so called logic and intelligence.

"No wonder she doesn't trust you…" Ichigo mumbled. He looked down toward Aria and his face paled. Her face was still in the soup and there was no more bubbles surfacing around her. He quickly pulled on her collar and flung her back until her back hit the floor, her eyes rolling to the back of her head. "You killed her!" Ichigo leaned his head down until his ear was next to her mouth. His face paled blue and he shot up and pointed his finger at Urahara. "You idiot! Why would you let her head fall in the soup after you poisoned her?!"

"Calm down, Ichigo." He casually walked over to her and stared down. He brought his staff up over her stomach and he let it fall with a little added strength to his side. It hit hard and she lurched forward sputtering out all the soup she inhaled before falling back and passing out once more. "See, she's fine."

Ichigo slapped his hand to his forehead and brought it down slowly as he glared at Urahara. "Sometimes I wonder about you."

"Well, I think were done here." He clapped his hand together and rubbed them up and down like he was trying to warm them up. He walked to Aria's feet, bent down and picked up her feet. "Help me take her outside. I don't want her to break everything in my shop when she wakes up."

"No way am I helping you!" Ichigo yelled, his hands fisted.

"If you don't help me everything she breaks you have to pay for."

"And why do I have to pay!"

"Because she's your responsibility now. Aren't ya helping her fix her hollow problem?"

"That doesn't mean I'm her guardian or something! I'm only helping her out!"

Urahara smiled, his eyes staring into his from underneath his hat. "Then what are you to her?" He wiggled his eyebrow in a suggestive way.

Ichigo's face turned as red as a tomato.

* * *

Before long, Urahara convinced Ichigo to help bring the unconscious Aria outside where they gently laid her on the ground. Her eyes began to twitch as she slowly began to come to. Urahara smiled at the two and took a couple of steps back, nodding his head toward Ichigo. "Thanks for bringing her here. I'll see you guys later." He turned to leave but stopped short when Ichigo, yet again, began to yell at him.

"And where do you think you're going?"

Urahara turned and smiled sweetly at the orange haired teen. "Oh, just inside so I don't have to deal with the consequences." And with that he ran and disappeared in his shop while closing and locking the door behind him.

"Kisuke! You bastard! Get back here!" Ichigo's fist shook in front of his face with anger as he glared at the shop before him.

Aria's eyes slowly opened, her vision blurred. She groaned, her hand coming to her head to grip it as it throbbed from Urahara's knock out medication… "KISUKE!" She basically screamed as she shot up from her spot and looked back and forth, her surroundings looking all too familiar. He left her outside again.

She turned around, her face red with anger as she glared daggers at the shop. Her eye caught Ichigo's who was staring at her with surprise. "What the hell are you looking at, carrot top?" She stomped forward until she was in front of his shop and banged on the door. "Open up so I can kick your ass, Urahara. I swear, the next time I see you you're going to pay!" She banged, kicked, scratched, and head butted the door but it wouldn't budge. Her breath came heavy, her forehead was placed on the door as she tried to calm herself down. Damn it. He got her again.

That's when she finally felt something constricting her left wrist. She looked down and saw the black bracelet sparkling up at her in a mocking way. She could almost hear Urahara's wicked chuckle. "What the hell is this?" she reached down with her other hand and tried to pry it off, but it wouldn't budge. She gritted her teeth, her anger boiling over. "DAMN IT, KISUKE!"

Ichigo followed at a pretty good distance behind the fuming Aria. Her body was hunched over, her hands dug deep into her pockets and her hood covering her light red hair. Darkness had fallen Karakura town which gave Aria's current disposition more ominous and lethal looking when she passed others walking through the street. If, by any chance, she looked up to any of the passerby's they would coward or flinch away from her intense angry stare. Ichigo could practically see the hate radiating off of her.

On occasions she would mumble Kisuke Urahara's name under her breath with distaste and Ichigo would strain to hear what she was saying, but was never successful.

He didn't bother trying to talk to her. He didn't want her anger turned on him. He couldn't even imagine what she would say to him when the last time she was angry at Ichigo earlier on for whatever reason wasn't even nearly as intense as right then. What he would say to her made him shiver.

Finally, after the intense, awkward walk it was finally over. Aria was the first to walk into the house, not even bothering to knock like she already lived there for a while. Isshin peaked over from the corner and instantly noticed the awkward, angry atmosphere surrounding the two teens. He walked into view with a pan of bacon in his hand and a pink cooking apron. "Didn't go well, huh?"

Aria glared up at the old man and sneered. "How did you guess?" her voice laced with sarcasm.

* * *

Isshin gave Aria Yuzu's room. While they were gone to Urahara's, Yuzu brought most of her stuff to Karin's room. She didn't mind even when Aria offered to sleep on the couch. She said that she didn't mind sleeping in Karin's room and that it wasn't right for a guest to sleep on the couch. Aria gave in after a while, even though secretly she was glad that she wasn't sleeping on the couch and had to wake up with a stiff back.

Aria glanced around Yuzu's room. It was still filled with soft, plushy stuffed toys. She didn't mind, it wasn't like she was going to be in there during the day. She sighed to herself and gingerly walked over to the bed and sat down, her hands gripping onto the soft comforter. It's been awhile since she last slept on something soft.

Isshin skipped into her room, his eyes sparkling with an unknown happiness. In his hands, though, were shopping bags. "Guess what I did when you were gone." He pulled out a pink sweatshirt with a bunny stitched to the front. "I bought you new clothes! I knew you didn't have any so I thought I would take the liberty and buy you some of your own!" He sounded way too happy. She stared down the bunny sweatshirt, her lip twitching and the cuteness of it. She closed her eyes and cursed the gods.

"Thank you, Isshin. You _really_ didn't have to," she forced out with a crock smile.

"Nonsense. I wanted too!" he placed the bags near the door and waved to her with a chipper smile. "I'll let you settle in now. Don't hesitate to ask if you need anything." And with that, he finally left.

Aria sighed and fell backwards onto her new bed. She tried to think back on how she found herself in the predicament she was currently in. She didn't even plan on staying any longer than a couple of hours, and now… she was probably going to be stuck there for a month or two. But she couldn't pass up an opportunity like the one presented to her. Isshin's son went through the same thing she was going through now. He was a Vizard like herself… that's what they called what she was, a Vizard. If someone as weak as him could overcome the hollowfication, then she could too.

She had to. She didn't want to have another incident again and lose complete control – forever.

She heard something shift to her right. When she looked up she just caught a pencil fall off the desktop table. Her eyes shifted over the plush animals, one grabbing her attention quickly. She stood up and walked over to the table and reached out to grab a stuffed tiger like bear that seemed out of place from her other, more girly stuffed animals.

She glanced back down at the pencil and then back to the smooth surface of the table. No way could something roll off without it being pushed.

She eyed the stuff animal again, something catching her eye yet again. "I didn't know stuffed toys could sweat." She glared down wondering what the hell this thing was.

"Uh..Uh-ahhhh. What? No! I'm a ….a new line of toy! Yeah, that's it! I'm a talking sweating stuffed animal!" the thing stuttered out.

Her eyes turned red with anger, her glare deepening. "I wasn't born yesterday."

* * *

Ichigo sighed as he walked up to his room after he had an interesting conversation with Karin. She too was a little worried about the new guest that was sleeping in Yuzu's room. They knew nothing about her and their father hadn't seen her for over six years so why wouldn't he think that people wouldn't change over that period of time. Still, his father trusted her for whatever reason and even though he hated him most of the time… he still trusted his judge in characters.

He stood in front of his bedroom and let out another sigh. He thought back to their walk to Urahara's. He wondered what made her ticked off at him and lash out the way she did… well, if he was going to be forced to live with her for however long it was going to take, he better make amends now before it was too late.

He scratched his head as he walked over to Yuzu's room. The door was closed and he reached out to knock but stopped short when he heard voices inside.

"Where the hell is it?" she grumbled. He could hear muffled sounds of someone else but couldn't make out the…

"Stop it! Your hand isn't supposed to go in there!" Yep, that was most definitely Kon.

He threw the door open and walked inside expecting the worse. "What are you doing?" Sitting on Yuzu's bed was Aria with her hand stuffed into Kon's mouth, her fingers wiggling around as she searched for something.

Aria glanced up at him, stopping her search momentarily to answer Ichigo. "Looking for the pill that's inside this stuffed animal. I didn't know you could do this, actually."

"UH, I don't think he likes that." Ichigo tried his best to stick up for his stuffed animal friend, but Aria shrugged it off.

"And I care, because?"

Kon finally pried her hand out of his mouth as he took in deep breaths of air. "Ichigo, please, save meefffff." Aria stuck her hand in his mouth again but that time it only took a matter of seconds before her hand came back out taking out the mod soul's pill.

"Here it is. So I was right, this is a mod soul." She rolled it around her fingers to examine it further. She never seen a mod soul pill before. It didn't look any different from a regular candy soul pill the soul reapers used. She stuffed it back into the stuffed animals' throat and set him down onto her crossed leg lap.

"What the hell is your problem!?" He pointed his finger at her accusingly before stopping when he got a good look of her face, then his eyes travelling down to her chest.

"That's so interesting. It makes me wonder how he can even move without a brain or skeletal structure to mod off of…" her hand was on her chin as she examined the plush toy. "Maybe it's because he's a mod soul to begin with. Normal candy souls probably couldn't do this." She reached down and grabbed his arms and pulled lightly. "Has good resistance, too."

"Hey, let me go. If you weren't so pretty I would have beat you up by now!" he cried out as he struggled against her grip.

Ichigo crossed his arms and sneered at the plush animal. "Sure. That's the only reason, huh?"

"Of course it is. Why do you sound so sarcastic?!"

Aria finally let him go and he jumped backwards off her lap and turned toward Ichigo with fire in his eyes. "I don't like your tone. You know very well what power I hold."

"Yeah, when you're in an actual body maybe, but in a toy you have no power."

And with that Kon jumped up and karate chopped Ichigo across the head and then began his onslaught on his face. Ichigo vein popped up on the side of his head and he grabbed the disrespectful plush toy and threw him to the ground. "Will you stop that already? If it wasn't for me you wouldn't even be alive!"

Aria watched as the fight broke out between the two. She still had her legs crossed on top of the bed but now had her elbow on her thigh and her chin in her hand as she watched the two duke it out with amused eyes.

Maybe staying here wouldn't be as bad as she thought it was going to be.


	4. Chapter Four: Entering Soul Society

Careless Wonder

Chapter Four: Entering Soul Society

"Ichigo…" No response. "Ichigo…" Again, no response. "ICHIGO!"

A slap reverberated through the closed off bedroom walls soon followed by a scream. Ichigo flew off his bed and fell to the ground with a rather loud and painful thud. His face was the first thing to hit the floor and his butt sticking up in the air in a rather embarrassing position. He turned his head up, tears in the corner of his eyes as he stared grumpily at the person who decided to slap him while he was sleeping.

Aria hovered over him crouched low to his level while pivoting on her tiptoes. She gave him a rather bored expression, her eyes half lidded, her pupil and iris (the colored part of the eye), constricted to small black dots, and her mouth barely bigger than the size of an eraser.

Ichigo picked himself up and sat back against his bed with hurry as he glared at Aria. "What the hell!"

"Told you that would wake him up." The little plush lion appeared above Aria's head as he grinned mischievously down at the teary eye boy.

"That would wake anyone up you idiot!" He grabbed the plush lion, gripping it around the throat and began to strangle the poor toy.

"Didn't know you slept in your underwear, Ichigo." Her expression didn't change as her eyes were plastered to the general area of his underwear.

Ichigo let out a squeak (Which actually surprised Aria), and dropped Kon to grab a pillow to cover up his crotch area. His eyes narrowed at the intruding woman. "Why the hell are you in my room and why did you slap me to wake me up?" His finger pointed at her accusingly, his face still bright red. When she stood up Ichigo instantly noticed that she didn't have her signature hoodie on, rather… "Is that my shirt…?" she had on Ichigo's favorite shirt which sported the number fifteen.

She looked down at her shirt and shrugged. "Oh, yeah. I didn't like any of the clothes your dad got me and seeing as my own hoodie is being washed I decided to raid your closet." Then, she pulled up something in front of her she's been clutching in her hand that whole time, much to Ichigo's demise. "Do you really wear these?" In her hand was a pair of briefs that had red hearts scattered across them facing every which angle and the words sexy man stitched to the butt area in sparkling red English letters.

She didn't think his face could get any redder than what it already was. It contrasted nicely with his orange hair. Her lip twitched, almost like she was going to smile but thought better of it, her eyes narrowing at the teen boy ready to tease him further. "Didn't know you were into kinky things such as this. My total perspective of you has totally gone downhill…"

Ichigo suddenly appeared in front of her and snatched the underwear from her hand, dropping the pillow without much realization on his part. "My dad got those for my birthday! I never even wore them!" He tried to make up an excuse but slowly realized that his attempt was futile as she only raised an eyebrow at him.

"Whatever. What you wear isn't any of my business." Her eyes glanced down again at his boxers, they started to sparkle.

Ichigo, for the third time, turned bright red as he grabbed her shoulders and turned her around to push her out of his bedroom door. Once she was fully out he slammed the door as loud as he could and turned around to lean on the hard wood surface, his face still beat red from the incident. He let out a very audible sigh.

"I think she likes you," Kon said from the bed, his eyes staring mischievously at the orange haired teen. "Of course, if a hot girl was in my room while I'm just in my underwear I would have made sure she was in the same predicament as I was." He nodded his head with his arms crossed, like he was critiquing Ichigo's actions.

Ichigo stomped over to the plush lion and picked him up with an iron like grip, his eyes red with anger and his sharp teeth bared. "Why didn't you warn me she was in my room?" he growled lethally at the toy lion. "And why did you let her raid my closet?"

Kon tried to wiggle out of his grip but Ichigo tightened, making the poor plush lion's face turn blue.

Once Ichigo was fully dressed, he solemnly trudged down the stairs, his hand rubbing the back of his neck as he wondered what today was going to be like. He walked over to the kitchen but stopped short and ducked behind a wall when he saw Aria sitting at the kitchen table with her elbow up and her hand on her chin staring off into space. He narrowed his eyes as he continued his so called surveillance of the other teen.

She's been living with them for five days now and nothing had changed. Ichigo was finding it hard to find Shinji, he didn't know where he ran off too after he defeated Aizen. It wasn't until yesterday he was informed by his father that him and some of the other Vizard's where in the soul society. Realization crossed his face now remembering that he promised Aria he would take her to the soul society in the early morning. No wonder she woke him up so early on a Saturday.

He groaned inwardly as he remembered his promise, but he was a little excited to go and see all his friends nonetheless, no matter what front he put on to make people think he was indifferent. He wanted to know how they were doing. The last time he saw Rukia and the gang was when he woke up after passing out…

He gritted his teeth. He just had to think about that certain topic.

Ichigo mentally shook his head and stuffed his hands in his pockets where he sauntered into the kitchen and began to rummage through the cabinets for a bite to eat.

"You forgot, didn't you," Aria's monotone of a voice cut through the silence. Ichigo turned around to look at her. She was still in the same position with her chin on her hand and staring off into the distance at nothing in particular. He was finding that she did that a lot, like she was in deep thought about something.

"Yeah, sorry about that. As soon as we're done eating breakfast we'll head over to Kisuke's immediately." He watched as she sneered once Kisuke's name was said. Seemed she was still pretty pissed about the incident five days ago. He glanced down at her wrist, the bracelet was still there, and around it on the skin was slightly blushed due to Aria trying to get the thing off.

He walked to the kitchen table and sat down a bowl and cereal box across from Aria. Once he got his milk he sat down and began to pour himself a bowl of cereal. "Raisin brand? You are a prune," Aria commented snidely.

Ichigo glared at her from behind the box and took the first bite of his cereal. "Raisin brand is good for you and it also tastes good."

Aria sighed and shook her head like she was going to scold Ichigo. "Who cares if it's good for you, you only live once, and once you do pass on you go to the soul society and forget who you once were. Might as well enjoy life before the inevitable."

"Maybe I don't want the inevitable to be near in the future from not eating healthy," he countered which made Aria snort.

She opened her mouth to say something but stopped short when she looked behind Ichigo. "Aria, your hoodie is clean," Yuzu's cheery voice broke though the tension. Aria gave a small, rare smile and stood up to walk around the table to Yuzu, who had her clean hoodie.

She took the hoodie in hand and nodded her head at the young girl. "Thank you Yuzu, you're the best."

She smiled sweetly up at Aria and nodded her own head. "Thank you for the compliment." Yuzu walked into the living room and sat on the couch with her sister. Aria watched her walk away, her small smile soon faded once Yuzu was out of sight. She eyed the hoodie before putting it next to Ichigo and reached down to grab the bottom of the shirt she stole.

Ichigo's eyes just about bulged out of their sockets before he noticed that she was wearing a tank top underneath as she lifted up the shirt to replace it with her now clean hoodie. "Hey, why did you have to steal my shirt when you already… had…" he trailed off as his eyes grew wide and his mouth set to a fine line.

Once the shirt was fully off, Ichigo could see heavy scaring adorning her left shoulder, completely covering it. He also noticed that some skin was showing near her pants and he could see the same scaring on the left side of her stomach, too. The scare basically took up the whole left side of her body except her arm.

Aria froze when Ichigo stared at her scare. She couldn't quite place the look on his eyes as he continued to stare. Her hand slowly reached up and touched the scaring, lightly tracing it with her finger. Ichigo watched her hand and his eyes hardened, Aria didn't know why. "This is what happened the first time I lost control. The hollow decided to punish my body when I tried to take back control and succeeded." She lifted up her tank top and showed her stomach before turning around to show her back. "My whole left side of my body is scarred, including the side of my left leg."

"And why are you showing me?" Ichigo's voice sounded strained, like he was forcing himself to speak.

Aria pulled her shirt down and reached for her hoodie and zipped it over her body all the while watching Ichigo's face. It was almost like… it was almost like it hurt his pride to see her scarred skin. "So you know one of the reasons why I'm so desperate to control my hollow side."

"So tell me, since were on the topic, what happened that night you first lost control." He was straight forward. Aria originally would have thought he was only asking out of curiosity and nothing more, in which she would have thought to be rude, but the way he was looking at her.

"I was ten. I lost control, killed two people close to me and Kisuke found and saved me. You don't need to know anything more." And with that she turned and walked toward the exit, not bothering to look back when she spoke again. "I'll be waiting outside when you're done eating." She reached up toward her head and pulled up her hoodie over her head and then walked outside closing the door softly behind her.

Ichigo stared forward, forgetting that he had cereal in the bowl that was now getting soggy. His thoughts were racing over the new information, trying to grasp over the reality of it. Slowly, he began to understand why she was so distance, so cold. And to think that her hollow side would punish her to that extent. Even his hollow side wouldn't do that… probably. Hell, it was a hollow soul after all, they were unpredictable. She was scarred for life. Forced to remember that day every time she looked in the mirror. If he was in the same situation as her… he didn't know how he would react, you couldn't even think about himself in that way.

He turned in his seat and looked in the direction she disappeared to. Right then and there he vowed that he would help her in any way possible, that he would give her his full attention and strength to overcome the obstacle they both… together, were going to face.

And he will be by her side to help her through it.

He realized now that he considered her his friend.

And just like all his other friends, he will do everything in his power to protect her.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So this is the soul society," Aria said as she glanced around the current area. "And where it the capital called Seireitei?"

They both arrived to the soul society not too long ago and was now walking through the streets of Seireitei. Kisuke was more than grateful to help them out, probably trying to get on Aria's good side once again. When he tried to huge her, she ended up tripping him and walking over him without much care.

"Yeah, this is where Shinji is supposed to be. Of course, I really don't know why." If Ichigo's memory served him right, him and the Visard's were not on the friendliest terms with the soul society.

Aria watched the passerby soul reapers as they walked passed everyone in the strange town they were in. Some greeted Ichigo when they passed and stared at her with confusion. Her only guess was because she was the only one not wearing the Shinigami uniform like everyone else.

Kisuke pulled a lot of strings to get Aria to the soul society since they don't welcome outsiders with open arms. She wondered what he said to make them let her pass. Did he mention that she was a ticking time bomb ready to explode any minute? She doubted it. He always left crucial information out whenever he could.

"Rukia probably knows where he is, let's go to her barracks and see if we can find her." Aria complied and followed after him while still taking in her surroundings. Other than the weird clothing, the soul society wasn't much different from the human world, other than the fact that everything seemed to resemble feudal japan and was run by some soul king, she remembered her mother saying once.

"Ichigo!" Someone called out, Ichigo instantly recognized the feminine voice.

"Looks like we don't have to look far." He turned around with a smile as he watched his black haired friend run up to them with her own smile. Once close enough she stopped and her smile grew wider toward her good friend. "What are you doing here, Ichigo? I didn't expect you to be back so soon." She didn't sound the least bit annoyed about the fact.

Ichigo scratched his head and gave the small girl a sheepish grin. "Yeah, well, I'm actually here to speak to Shinji about something important. Do you by any chance know where he is?"

"Oh, yeah, he should be in the 5th division barracks." Her eyes glanced over to Aria, her smile falling slightly with surprise. Aria's head was turned slightly to the side as she stared at two soul reapers talking about yesterday's hollow fight with disinterest. "Who's your friend, Ichigo?"

Ichigo turned his smile to Aria, nudging her with his arm to get her attention. "She's the reason why I need to find Shinji. She's a friend of the family." Her eyes rolled when he mentioned friend of the family before diverting her eyes away again from the conversation.

"Oh, hello, my name is Rukia Kushiki. It's nice to meet you…?" She brought her hand forward in an invitation for a shake. Aria, on the other hand, glanced down momentarily and grumbled out a 'hi', before diverting her eyes again away from the conversation, an annoyed expression on her face like she wanted to be somewhere else at that very moment. Which, in fact, was exactly what she was thinking.

Ichigo brought his hand up and slapped her against the top of her head as he glared down at the red haired girl with big, yet small pupil eyes. "You're supposed to take her hand and give her your name! You're being rude!"

Aria rubbed her head and turned her red glaring eyes on the orange haired teen, not liking in the least bit that he hit her across the head for no apparent reason. "Maybe I don't feel like it! Jackass!"

Both now had their foreheads pressed together, both teeth bared as they barked back and forth from one another. Rukia looked at the two with annoyance and a little sweat drop on the side of her face as she watched the fight persist.

"You're being rude, it's only polite to give your name when someone offers their own!"

"And who said I wanted everyone in the soul society to know my name?! I thought we were only here to see Shinji, get my problem fixed, and get the hell out of here!"

"We will, but that doesn't mean you have to be rude to everyone else! They never did anything to you!"

"And I care?!"

"Children, children, enough," Rukia waved her arms next to them in an attempt to get their attention, but they ignored her completely. A little vein popped on her head but she just shook it off and tried again. "Ichigo… girl… HEY!"

Both turn their heads and barked out, "WHAT?!"

Ichigo's face paled when he saw Rukia's face turning red with rage. "What was that, Ichigo!" She grabbed him by the ear and brought him down to her level. "You should treat your friends with more respect!..." She continued to yell into the orange haired kids' ear making him wince from the pain, his eyes watering as he apologized over and over again.

Aria watched with an amused expression as the one-sided argument continued. She was beginning to like that Rukia girl, maybe once the fight was over she would give a proper greeting. For now, her eyes turned away from the fight and continued on its roaming while she waited. There was nothing in particular that caught her interest, at least, until she saw a really tall captain come into view with very perky wolf ears and was speaking to another soul reaper with three scars accenting his right eye, a geryish-blue lined tattoo roaming from his left side of his face and slightly passing his nose, and a tattoo of the number 69 tattooed to his left cheek. Absentmindedly, she reached up and touched her own tattoo over her left eyebrow, feeling the slightly raised skinned against her fingertip.

The two were conversing when they rounded the corner, but once they heard the fighting they both looked over to see Ichigo and Rukia almost duking it out in the middle of the court yard. Of course, the fight was one sided. However, both were surprised to see Ichigo in the soul society so soon, but thought nothing of it. Then their eyes turned to light blue ones that was staring right back at them, her left eyebrow slightly cocked with surprise and wonder. She stuffed her hands in her pockets, slouched forward, and began to walk to the soul reaper and captain. Both turned their bodies to face hers as she sauntered over to the two.

She stopped when she was in front of the two. Her eyes shifting between them but finally landed on the wolf captain.

Finally, she decided to speak. "What's an anthropomorphic wolf doing in the soul society? Didn't know your type even existed." Her voice didn't hold any malice or hate, which Sajin noted, but only curiosity and wonder with her bold questions.

Normally Sajin would be self-conscious about his appearance, but ever since Captain Tosen's betrayal he became more confident in his looks, beginning to ignore the stares he would receive when he was out on the stroll. "You're bold. My name is Sajin Komamura and I'm the captain of the seventh division of the thirteen court guard squad. And you are…?"

Aria looked upon the wolf, her eyes half-lidded with an emotionless expression, but they still held a sparkle as she stared up at the wolf captain. "Aria Diederich. Human with a Zanpaktuo and also a so called 'Vizard'." Both captain and soul reaper looked at her with surprise at her open comment.

"Hm, are you in the same position as Ichigo Kurosaki?" The wolf captain asked, referring to his substitute soul reaper status.

"No. I didn't need another soul reaper to unlock my powers. I was born with them."

"I see, Aria Diederich. It's nice to meet you, I will have to say so far you are an interesting character." The wolf captain smiled down at the young girl. He pondered over her remark. She was born with her spiritual awareness? He would have asked how but he wasn't as bold when asking personal questions to a stranger. Maybe if he saw her again, hey may have the chance to ask.

Aria continued to stare up at him, then her head cocked to the side with interest. "When I use to live out in the forest in human world I came across a wolf puppy. He was my best friend up until he died recently. Do you, by any chance, have a hard time combing your hair?"

Sajin was impressed with her ever so bold questions. He wasn't offended by her in the least bit, he was indeed a wolf and didn't care to hide it among his peers. He actually, truly smiled down at the young girl and nodded his head. "Some days it can be unruly."

She lightly smiled up at the captain before it disappeared and she looked away from him to stare off into the distance. "I know of a shampoo that can help with that. It worked wonders with Codey, and should probably do the same for you. Doesn't dry out your skin either. Maybe if I ever come back here I'll bring you some."

"That would be very kind of you, Diederich."

She held up her hand, "Please, just call me Aria. It makes me feel awkward when someone calls me by my last name."

Suddenly, an arm went around Aria's head forcing her head down into a head lock. She recognized the smell of her assaulter. "What the hell do you think you're doing, Ichigo," she growled.

"I could ask you the same thing. How come you always cause trouble everywhere you go." He squeezed tighter around the girls head making her growl out again as she pushed against his arms to escape, but had no success.

"She wasn't causing any problems, Ichigo. You do not need to worry. We were having quite an interesting conversation." The wolf captain smiled at the two teens in front of him, trying to reassure the orange haired one that she wasn't doing any harm.

Ichigo stared up at the wolf captain with surprise before letting her head go and un-expectantly received a punch in the jaw, which sent him flying back away from the three. He shot up from the ground with his hand on his jaw as he glared at Aria. "What the hell was that for?!"

"For hitting me earlier, you jackass!"


	5. Chapter Five: Friendship?

Careless Wonder

Chapter Five: Friendship?

"How the hell did you become a Captain?" Ichigo said with complete and utter disbelief.

After their little scuffle in the court yard, and giving a proper greeting to Rukia, they (Aria and Ichigo, not Rukia, she had to run over some paper work with her captain), finally made it the 5th division barracks. But what lied inside was something Ichigo would have never expected. When he saw Shinji his jaw basically dropped to the ground when he noticed the white captain coat slung over the Vizard's shoulders.

"And this surprises you? That hurts my feeling', Ichigo." He gave his best hurt face, fake tears appearing in the corner of his eyes.

All three were sitting around a banquet of food as they spoke to one another. How they got there Ichigo didn't know. He was suddenly lead into a room when he arrived and was forcibly pushed on the shoulders to sit down before he even had the time to take in his surroundings. When he finally gave his surroundings a once over, sitting in front of him was Shinji in his Captain coat and the floor littered with food in front of them.

As Ichigo continued to gape at the Vizard, Aria ate to her hearts content, (While adding salt to everything she stuck in her mouth). When the two conversed she took the time to assess the captain in front of her. One asset she noticed first was how his teeth was always showing, like they were too big for his mouth. He had clean cut, medium short blonde hair that barely reached his chin. Her first impression of him was that he looked snobby. Someone that didn't look capable to help her with a certain problem she had.

Shinji's eyes shifted over to Aria, a rather large smile plastered on his face. "And who's this beautiful friend you brought along with you?"

Aria was slowly drinking from her cup, but his little comment made her sputter out the liquid forcing her to turn her head and glare at the Vizard captain. "What did you just say?" She said through gritted teeth.

Shinji's eyes grew wide and a little sweat drop appeared on the side of his face. "Um, never mind. I didn't say anythin'." He turned his attention away from the scorning female and looked over at Ichigo. "So why are you here, Ichigo? You wanted to see me for somethin', am I correct?"

Ichigo nodded, at this moment in time he wasn't going to wonder over the fact that Shinji somehow became captain. He'll have time later to ask him, but for now this wasn't about him. This was about his friend, Aria. His eyes shifted over to Aria when he began to speak. "This is Aria Diederich, she's a human like me but with soul reaper powers." He glanced back at Shinji, his eyes set hard. "And she's a Vizard like us that can't control her hollow side."

"I see." Shinji glanced over at the girl who now diverted her eyes away from the conversation, her eyes staring at the wall with boredom. Seemed she didn't feel comfortable when the subject was about her. "So you came to me to help her overcome her hollowfication." It wasn't a question, just merely stating the fact.

Ichigo nodded his head. "She's been fighting it for six years. She first turned when she was only ten. From what I understand, she lost control again not too long ago and if she loses control again, she thinks she may never go back."

Shinji's eyes grew wide with surprise. She was so young, too young. "How did that happen?" He looked over again toward Aria, his eyes searching for something. She continued to stare at the wall but he could see the hard set stare in her eyes as she listened intently to their conversation. Unfortunately, it looked to be she wasn't going to add her own personal opinion on the matter. Which Shinji thought to be quite strange? "I don't understand," he began as he looked at Ichigo once again, realizing now the only information he was going to get was from him. "That should be impossible. Are you sure about this?"

Ichigo's eyes narrowed. "Are you saying she's lying?"

"Well, it seems too surreal for my liking."

"Trust me," his stare did not waver as he continued to speak about the girl. "She wouldn't lie about that. She needs your help Shinji, more so then most."

Shinji sighed and nodded his head. "I do trust your word, Ichigo." He turned to look at Aria again, still feeling a bit uncomfortable about the information given to him. She was looking at Ichigo with her own surprise. Her eyes were still narrowed but he could see in the way her eyes shifted that she herself couldn't believe how Ichigo stood up for her. "But I would like a better explanation about the matter. I'm not saying she's… your lying," he had his attention on Aria now, directing the conversation to her. "I would just like further insight about the matter, to better understand it."

Her eyes moved to the captain, narrowing further until they were like daggers. "I was ten when I first changed, it was the first time I used my Shikai," this even made Ichigo look at her with wonder and weariness. "You two now Aizen, right?" Both of their eyes flinched when she mentioned his name. "He was there and he did something to me. All I remember was this white thing engulfing my face and the…" She closed her eyes as the memories began to flood her mind. Her breath began to quicken. "The fear in their eyes…"

Ichigo saw the anguish in her features, it was the most emotion he seen on her face and it was something he wished he hadn't witnessed. Her eyes were shaking uncontrollably as her thoughts wondered over to the incident, her eyes growing wide and wild as the fear began to overcome her senses.

Who they we're, she mentioned, he expected were the two people she was with. The two people she killed when she was forcibly changed.

Ichigo reached out and grabbed her shoulder, he could feel her shaking. He squeezed lightly, her eyes blinking and looking over at the contact; the fear slowly releasing her. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself down and then looked up at Shinji with indifferent eyes. "So, will you help me Shinji?"

Shinji stared back at her, not saying anything as he looked into her eyes. Finally, he sighed and shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, why wouldn't I?" He opened his eyes and winked at her. "How can I say no to a beautiful face such as yours?"

Aria's face grew red, not liking in the least bit how he said that. How dare he.

Aria opened her mouth to voice her anger, but was stopped when Shinji raised his hand to stop her. "But you guys have to do something for me first."

"Yeah, what's that?" Ichigo was annoyed, he should have expected something like this.

"You two will attend the festival tonight…" His voice dropping seriously his eyes shadowed for what he was about to say. "And… have a good time!" He said a little too cheerfully, looking up at them with sparkling eyes.

Both Aria and Ichigo fell over to their sides from exasperation. "You can't be serious," Ichigo sighed out, fixing himself and sitting back up again. "And what does this have to do with anything?"

Shinji smiled innocently at the two. "You too look like you need a break. Tonight have some fun before the real work begins. It's nice to loosen up before the battle starts." He winked at the two human teens.

"And when does this festival supposed to start," Ichigo said with annoyance, his eyebrow twitching with irritation.

"Right…"

Epic scene change…

"Now!"

They were in the streets filled with people wearing different assortment of clothes, stands that held civil games and food, and more people drunk out of their minds. Ichigo watched with apparent irritation as two souls passed wearing kimonos and giggling louder than they should. Their faces were red which indicated something was playing a big factor in their goofy behavior.

"I can't believe you dragged me into this," Ichigo growled, his eye twitching.

Aria had her head in her hand as she shook back and forth, getting maddened herself. "Well," Shinji clasped his hands together as he looked at the two with glee. "Have fun!" he leaped away from them with a short laugh, bounding through the crowd of people and disappearing.

Ichigo crossed his arms and glared in the direction Shinji disappeared to. He sighed and looked over to Aria to find she wasn't there. He uncrossed his arms, his head whipping back and forth as he searched for her with panicky eyes but stopped when he saw a purple sweat shirt at a stand. He walked up behind her and peered over her shoulder.

"Can you put extra salt on that?" The man who was handing Aria something that looked like a large flat disk of fried doe with sugar on it.

Looks like she's taking advantage of this here festival…

"Um… okay." He brought the treat back and grabbed the salt shaker, and began to sprinkle it onto the fried doe.

When he stopped Aria shook her head. "A little more." He shook it two more times and looked up at her. "A little more." His face showed complete disgust as he shook the salt until she finally said stop. He handed her the fried doe, his face slightly green. Aria said her thanks and turned away to face Ichigo taking a big bite of her treat.

"You like salt a little too much…" Ichigo shivered when she took her bite and looked away, unable to watch her eat the salty fried doe.

"Salt makes everything taste better."

"Eating that much salt cannot be good for you."

"I've been eating this much salt since as far back as I remember. Nothing happened yet."

"The secret word in that sentence is yet."

"Hey…" she began, her voice low. Ichigo looked back at her and saw she was looking away from him at nothing in particular. "Why did you say that back there."

"Say what?"

She flicked her eyes at him before looking away again. "That I wouldn't lie. You don't know me, Ichigo, I could be lying." When he didn't say anything she glanced back at him again and was a little surprised to see that he was smiling at her.

"I just know."

"How do you know?"

"It's hard to explain. To tell you the truth, from the very first day I've always believed you." When she gave him a skeptical look he lifted his hand and pointed to her eyes. "I see it here. If you were lying, I would see right here if you were."

Her eyes widen, but soon disappeared as she looked away. "You're a weirdo."

Eyebrow twitch.

"Why do you do that?"

"Do what, call you a weirdo? Because you are one."

"Not that, why do you always look away from people when the topic takes a turn for the better… or when it's talking about you."

Aria narrowed her eyes to her left. It was true, she always found herself doing that. She turned her head and glared at Ichigo. "Why do you care? If I remember correctly I'm only here to fix my hollow problem, not to be interrogated by questions." She stormed past him, not giving him the chance to respond. She walked with a quick pace, easily dodging through the crowd and trying to get as far away from the boy as possible.

Why? She didn't know. She just had to get away from him.

She could hear him call out to her but she continued on walking, ignoring him completely.

Her fried doe was half eaten before she got bored and threw it away. She was surprised that the soul society had such a festival. From what she remembered her mother saying was that the soul society didn't necessarily have the necessities as the human world. This seemed one of the 'necessities' she would have thought she referred too. Apparently, a lot had changed since her mother was last in the soul society.

Her eyes gazed upon the stands and games she passed. One in particular caught her attention. A little boy was trying to throw a ball into a small bowl, barely bigger than the ball, so he could win the gift which in this situation was a fish. When he threw, it constantly pinged against the top of the glass and would end up falling off the edge. He looked disappointed.

Aria walked over to the boy and watched his failed attempt once more. She stood next to him, his eyes slightly watering as he stared the fish down with sad eyes.

"Can I have a try," She asked the game holder. He handed her a ball and she rolled it in her hand as she assessed the weight of it. It resembled much like a Ping-Pong ball. She placed her thumb underneath it and flicked it high in the air. Both the boy and the man who gave her the ball watched as it reached its peak and slowly fall and land perfectly in a cup.

"That was amazing!" The boy exclaimed, his eyes sparkling up at the girl. When she was handed the fish in its glass she handed it to the boy.

"It's yours." She nudged it to him. He looked up at her with confusion but after a second he realized what she was doing and took it with the biggest smile on his face.

"Thank you lady!" He ran off. Aria turned to watch him run but stopped when she saw a familiar orange haired kid walking over to her with impatience. She rolled her eyes.

"Can't you take a hint? You don't have to babysit me," she sneered as she looked away from him. She scolded herself as she did so. Hating the fact that he called her out on the small gesture.

"Hey, someone has to make sure you don't get into any trouble," he smiled at her as he walked over to where she was standing. "Besides, I rather not be left alone with these maniacs." He pointed his thumb to the people behind him.

"Who are these maniacs you are referring to, Ichigo?" A voice said from behind. Ichigo froze, all the color draining from his face. He slowly turned around as his eyes caught sight of the black haired girl he knew all too well. She seemed very ticked.

"What? I didn't say that, you must have heard me wrong." He scratched the back of his head as he gave a fake laugh. "What I said was… ahhh… Okay. I wasn't referring to you, I promise." He pleaded, but it fell to deaf ears when he was kicked in the face by the petite girl.

Aria stared down at him with disinterest as he twitched on the ground with pain. She looked up to Rukia and raised her eyebrow, but had a small, almost unnoticeable smile of her face. "Nice job."

Rukia nodded her head; her arms crossed and eyes shut. "He deserved it. So," she looked back up at Aria as she asked the question. "Did you find Shinji?"

Aria nodded. "Yes, we did."

Rukia smiled. "I'm glad. I hope you're having a nice stay at the soul society. Even though today probably wouldn't be the greatest examples of how we work around her." As she said that two guys in shinigami outfits, tripped their way past them with the largest smiles on their faces.

Aria watched them trip away. "Aren't you guys afraid of an attack? Or something bad to happen, or however things work around here when something needs attention?"

"Not everyone are like those idiots over there. Most of us have brains." She lightly chuckled and Aria smiled softy.

"I'm sorry about earlier. I didn't mean to come off so rude. I'm not use to all this… interaction." She looked away from Rukia, to stare at the two soul reapers hitting on some girls.

"It's understandable. No hard feelings, I'm just glad we're having a civilized conversation now rather than at each other's throats later."

Aria nodded to that. Finally, Ichigo stood up rubbing his nose and glaring down at the petite girl. "That. Hurt."

"It was supposed to," Rukia snorted.

"Ichigoooo…" A male voice called out. Rukia turned around and Ichigo looked over her head to see who was calling out the boy's name. Two soul reapers walked casually to the three, one had a signature shining bald head, and the other with feathers on his eyebrow and eye. When they were close enough baldy spoke, his sword tapping against his shoulder. "I'm still looking for that rematch. So what'cha say? Are you ready to fight?"

"You've got to be kidding me, where in a middle of a festival and all you want to do is fight!" Ichigo yelled.

"Doesn't matter to me, people will move out of the way." The bald man smiled at Ichigo, fire burning in his eyes as he stared down the man he so desperately wanted a rematch from. Then, his eyes shifted to someone he didn't recognize. "Who's this?"

"Hm," Yumichika bent over slightly to try and peer at her face, but she ended up looking down further to keep her face in the shadow. If he didn't get away from her soon, she was going to snap. "What pretty hair," he reached forward to grab a strand near her cheek but her hand flew up and smacked his away. He was briefly stunned, but was soon replaced with agitation. "Well that was rude, I was only admiring your hair."

"I don't like to be touched," she simply stated. She looked up exposing her blue eyes to him. "What are those ridiculous appendage sticking out of your eyebrow and eye?"

Ikkaku straight out laughed as Yumichika's face turned red. "They're not ridiculous. I don't think I ever met someone as rude and inconsiderate as you are!"

"Then you haven't been out much."

Ichigo covered his mouth as he tried to suppress a laugh, but ended up failing miserably as he and Ikkaku laughed so hard they began to cry. Aria glare over to them. "I wasn't trying to be funny."

"It isn't funny!" Yumichika yelled at the two, his arms straight at his side and his butt sticking out with aggravation. "She obviously has no sense of style." He flipped his hair and looked away from the two laughing, giving up trying to stop their idiotic laughter.

"Oh boy," Rukia said under her breath.

Aria crossed her arms and looked the other way. "Tsh, whatever."

"Rukia, Yumichiki, Ikkaku! Oh, is that Ichigo, too?" A very girly and annoying voice rang through the air causing Aria to wince.

"What now," Aria sighed out as she looked behind her to see who else was going to join their little social circle. A girl with a rather large bust was jogging over to them, Aria's eyes followed the flow of her boobs with a red face.

"Rangiku," Ichigo said when she was close enough to hear. She smiled at them sweetly. Rukia gave her greeting to the overly busted woman.

"I didn't know you would be back so soon, Ichigo. I'm actually quite surprised."

"Yeah, I've been getting that a lot…"

"Rangiku!" Yet another soul reaper came into view causing Aria to pull on the top of her hoodie to cover her face. This was getting uncomfortable for her. "Did I say you can attend the festival? You still have a mountain of paperwork to do and I'm not going to get stuck with them again." A short captain with spikey white hair appeared out of nowhere next to the one named Rangiku. She jumped away from him in surprise and fear, then gave him a sheepish smile.

"But captain, how do you expect me to miss out on such an exciting event!" She gave him her best puppy dog eyes.

"T-Toshiro's here, too," the oblivious Ichigo said, pointing to the short captain.

"How many times do I have to tell you it's Captain Hitsugaya!" he growled at the orange hair kid, his patience running thin.

Aria was basically invisible to their little group as they conversed. She took small steps away, trying not to draw to much attention. She turned around and was ready to disappear away from the horrid place until someone decided to call out her name and blow her cover.

"Aria, where are you going?" Ichigo stepped away from the group, looking at Aria with confusion; his arms crossed.

Aria turned her head to the side so she was looking at them with one eye. "I don't like to be in a large crowd." And just like that, she leaped into the air and disappeared.

"Damn it. Where she go off to this time!" Ichigo ran forward in the direction she thought she took.

"Ichigo, just let her go, she obviously wants to be left alone," Rukia called out.

Ichigo ignored her remark. "I'll be back soon, Rukia."

Rukia sneered and crossed her arms with annoyance. "Why do I even bother?"

* * *

Aria leaped from building to building, trying to get away from the endless charade they called a festival. She never felt that uncomfortable in her entire life. They were all too happy, too friendly. She wasn't use to that. She was in seclusion for most of her life, if they knew why they probably wouldn't be so friendly toward her. She gritted her teeth at the thought.

Then there was Ichigo. He, out of everyone she ever meet, was the strangest of them all. He only knew her for five days and he already trusted her. What was his deal? She was never that quick to trust someone. Never. Never in a million years. Then he just had to say that he trusted her since day one… what the hell? What was wrong with him? If he keeps that up he's going to get himself killed.

And it'll probably be by her hand.

Again, she gritted her teeth as she shook the thought from her mind.

She stopped on top of a building when she was finally clear of the festival. The lighting illuminated the sky, making it quite beautiful in her opinion. Not everything was bad about that festival, it gave off a nice orange light.

"Aria." She heard a somewhat familiar voice call out her name, but she couldn't put a face to it. She glanced down and to her surprise she saw the the wolf captain standing underneath her with the same tattoo guy who didn't talk throughout their last conversation.

She jumped down and landed in front of the two, diverting her eyes toward the festival as she kept a sharp eye out for orange hair. "Captain wolf, erm… I mean Sajin..."

Sajin chuckled at her remark. "What are you doing all the way out here? Shouldn't you be enjoying the festival?"

Aria rolled her eyes and snorted. "To crowded for my liking. Started to feel uncomfortable."

"I see. If you want a more secluded spot to yourself head that way and once you see three distinctive boulders not too far ahead there should be a hill with a small tree on top of it. There's going to be fireworks, I imagine that spot may have the best view."

Aria blinked at the captain, confusion clear on her face. "Um, thank you sir." She bowed to the wolf captain respectfully before disappearing into the night. That was unexpected.

They both watched her shadow disappear on top of the buildings, Sajin smiling after her. "You like her, don't you?" Hisagi asked as he turned his attention to the captain he befriended over a lost friend.

"She's an interesting character to say the least. She intrigues me, but what had drawn my attention to her the most was her eyes. There's a deep sadness in them and also fear, what that is we will probably never know. I wish her the best of luck."

It was silent between the two as Hisagi thought over the wolf captains' words, but the silence soon left when they heard someone's loud foot steps running toward them. Simultaneously, both turned to see Ichigo running over to them, sweat running down his face.

"Hey," he began but stopped to catch his breath. "Have you two… seen… Aria?"

The wolf captain let himself chuckle for the second time that night. He turned sideways and gestured behind him toward the direction she disappeared to. "I suggested a secluded spot for her to enjoy the fireworks. Just follow ahead until you see three distinctive boulders, past that should be a hill with a small tree on top of it."

Ichigo was still panting, but nodded his head regardless. "Okay, thanks." He ran past them and in the direction of the girl. Both watched him disappear behind the buildings, even though his loud breathing and moans of displeasure were quite audible.

Ichigo continued to run, his heart pounding in his chest as he was outside the city and running up a steep hill. "Damn it. Perfect timing to start losing my spiritual powers."

Finally, he reached the three boulders the captain described. He took a quick breather, his hand on the boulder as he bent over to take deep breaths. Damn that girl. He was going to kill her if she keeps disappearing on him like that. When he thought he had enough of a break he began his run up the hill again, instantly regretting not taking a longer break.

Once he made it the top of the hill, he almost fell over and collapsed right then a there. "Damn it," he growled at his weakness. He wiped the sweat off his forward and looked around him to see if he could see the hill he was talking about. It didn't take him long to spot it. This time he walked to the hill, a path leading up and swirled around till it got to the top.

He stopped when he noticed Aria was indeed on top of the hill, but was lying back against the grass and staring up into the night sky. He took a step forward hesitantly, then another until he was next to her. He knew he was going to get a scolding so he just sat next to her wanting to get it over with.

She had both eyes closed, he noticed, but her right opened to look over at Ichigo. "Couldn't leave me alone, could you."

He chuckled. "You might get lost, I'll have to be by your side to make sure that doesn't happen."

"A pretty pathetic excuse if you ask me."

"Yeah, it is isn't it?"

Ichigo reached behind him and pulled his large sword up and off, setting in next to him. He leaned back on one hand and placed the other one on top of his now raised leg. He looked down upon the capital city seeing the lights flicker from different shades of color from the festival. It was silent between the two, Ichigo continued to keep his attention on the city, and Aria kept her eyes closed as she relaxed against the soft grass below her.

The silence soon evaporated when something boomed in the sky. Aria opened her eyes to see the purple firework spread throughout the sky and then disappeared, but was followed by another with a different color, and another. They came faster and faster until the sky was lit with multiple colors, flashing against the two teens faces.

Aria sat up and wrapped her arms around her legs as she continued to watch the fireworks with wonder. "This is the first time I've seen fireworks," she admitted.

Ichigo looked over at her, he was a bit surprised that she mentioned something about herself to him. "You really have never seen fireworks before?"

Her eyes were glued to the sky but she shook her head no to his question. "I've always lived in seclusion since I was a little kid, even when my parents died…" she stopped short, not believing she just told him that. She turned her head away from the fireworks, scolding herself for her mistake. That was the reason she hated being around certain people for too long, she begins to feel too comfortable around them.

"There you go again, turning away and avoiding the topic. Why do you do that? I'm only here to help you not to look down upon you for something that obviously happened in the past." When she didn't budge he started to become agitated. "Look, it's not healthy to keep everything to yourself. It'll do you good to let it all out. I won't judge you, I'm here for you whether you like it or not."

"Why?" she whispered, not liking where this was going. At least, she didn't think she was liking it.

"Because I'm your friend and that's what friends do. They support each other through the hard times."

She turned her head sharply and pierced him with her angry eyes. "You're not my friend. I didn't ask you to help me, nor do I need your sympathy."

"Who said I was showing you any sympathy? I'm only giving you a suggestion, but you're too self-absorbed to listen to what I have to say, or anyone else for that matter." His voice was rising as he continued to argue with the girl.

"Maybe because your suggestion is stupid. You don't know anything about me! I can't tell anyone anything because that means I'm getting close and everyone I ever get close to always dies!" her voice was rising as well, but toward the end she closed her eyes and looked away. Her fists shaking at her side as she tried her best to calm herself down.

"So that's why, isn't it? You're afraid to befriend anyone because of your hollow side? You're afraid to lose control and kill them so you seclude yourself from anyone so you don't have to go through the pain again," his voice was gentle as he realized her excuse. But then he snorted and crossed him arms as he stared up at the sky to watch the fireworks continue. "That won't happen to me, I'm going to make sure we defeat your hollow side. I know we'll win and once you can control it you can go back to living a normal life."

She hugged her legs again and buried her head in her arms. "Do you really believe that?" She said so lightly Ichigo barely heard it.

"I guarantee it. I never break a promise to a friend." He sounded so friendly, so open. She felt her heart give a loud thump. She was starting to like him, something she should had never let happen. No. It had gone too far.

"I killed my mother and father when I first hollowfied," she said bitterly. She looked up to see Ichigo, to see his expression. He was looking ahead, still staring up at the fireworks but Aria could see the slight shake in his eyes.

"I figure as much," he finally said. "That wasn't your fault. It was Aizen's fault." She wasn't expecting that. This wasn't going as she planned.

"But it was my hand who took their life. If only I was str…"

"Shut UP!" Ichigo yelled, startling Aria. He was… glaring at her. "Don't you realize what you're doing to yourself!? You are the biggest idiot I know! Why don't you stop feeling sorry for yourself and do something about it? But no, all you do is hide away in your own self-pity, blinding yourself from what's going on in front of you! I already told you once, I'm not going to let anything happen to you. This will end soon, I'll make sure of it. Don't make me say it again." He turned his burning eyes away from her startled ones, glaring up into the sky as the finale began.

"And no matter what you say you can't make me run away. You can't get rid of me that easily. When I set my mind on something I will see it to the very end."

Her own eyes were shaking after his little speech, she couldn't stop looking at him, she was too shocked to look anywhere else. Everything he said, it was all true. Everything about her and his promise. She believed he could save her. She actually believed…

She began to lightly laugh. Slowly it grew, forcing her to hold her sides as tears began to roll down her eyes from the pain in her gut. She looked up at Ichigo who was giving her a 'oh shit, she's gone crazy' look. That made her laugh even harder as she fell back.

Finally she stopped, both her arms and legs splayed out as she watched the last firework disappear in the sky. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but your right, Ichigo." She sat back up and smiled at him. Actually smiling at him, the big goofy kind, too. "I've haven't felt this happy in a long time."

He blinked at her, trying to comprehend what just happened. She laughed, actually laughed and not a small laugh either. She basically bellowed with laughter. And to make it even more strange she was smiling, an actual, genuine smile.

He smiled back.

She looked ahead of her, her eyes bright with glee and a large smile on her face. "I think I'll take you up on your offer, Ichigo."

"Oh, and which one would that be?"

"Your friendship. I think it's safe enough for me to say that I also consider you my friend."


	6. Chapter Six: Losing Control

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was not written to the best of my ability...

Careless Wonder

Chapter Six: Losing Control

"I'll kill him," the voice whispered from all around, echoing on and on and on.

Aria opened her eyes and all she saw was darkness. An abyss so vast she couldn't see a single shred of light. She should be panicking, but she wasn't, she was used to seeing the darkness when she fell asleep. She was too use to it.

"I'll kill him," the voice continued, hissing from all around her. "And there's nothing you can do to stop me."

She closed her eyes again, continuing to float through the dark abyss waiting for it to pass. To pass the time, she decided to answer the voice. Something she hadn't done in a very long time. "This time you won't succeed."

"And what makes you say that?" She felt hot breath on her face, she opened her eyes again only to see eyes black as the darkness around her and yellow irises she would never forget. Her inner hollow, which was the exact replica of herself, was face to face with her. Its body sticking straight up, its head tilted up to look into her own eyes. "Ichigo Kurosaki, Ichigo Kurosaki, Ichigo Kurosaki! Will you be adding an I to your tattoo when I take his life?"

"That won't happen."

"The next time I take control I'll destroy that boy, I'll rip his heart out and I'll make you watch him die. Everyday I'm getting closer and closer. Every minute I'm getting closer. Every second I'm getting closer. Look," Aria felt something pulling on her hair and shot her eyes open not believing that she was able to touch her. "I'm able to touch your hair. Why don't you keep it down? We look prettier when it's down."

"You're not me," she spat out, swatting its hand away from her face.

"You're wrong. I'm you. I'm your dark thoughts, your inner desires. Your lust. Your want. Your need. I'm everything you wish you could be. The sooner you realize this the better."

Aria reached out and gripped her inner hollows forearm. It was shocked for a second but soon recovered, smiling wickedly. "Getting bolder, I see." 

Aria brought her face close to it, her eyes burning with a desire the hollow could not quite understand. Its smile began to fade. "I will beat you. I will control you. I will be your master, your so called queen, and Ichigo will help me defeat you. You better start running because I'm coming after you."

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ichigo and Aria flashed stepped through the trees, trying to look for an open field that wasn't anywhere near a soul village. Ichigo scouted the area, so far nothing seemed fitting for the task at hand. He glanced over to Aria, he noticed that her head was down in thought and the bags under her eyes seemed darker than usual.

"Is everything okay?" Ichigo asked, the worry clear is his voice.

Aria looked up to see Ichigo giving her an intense stare. "It's nothing. Just a little excited for what's coming. Couldn't sleep last night because of it."

"It spoke to you last night, didn't it? I'm guessing from the bags under your eyes your hollow contacts you every night." He looked away from her. He didn't have to see her expression to know that he was right. She didn't respond. Ichigo kept his eyes forward now continuing his own search. If she wanted to talk to him, she would talk. If not, he wasn't going to force her. Time was the key in this sort of situation.

A scream echoed through the woods, bouncing off tree after tree as if it was trying to find a recipient to hear it. There were multiple screams, from the sound of them they sounded young; children.

Aria was the first to stop, her feet hitting the tree branch with a thud before standing up straight and listened intently to the forest around her.

"What's wrong?" Ichigo asked, stopping when he noticed Aria had fallen behind. Then he heard the screaming too, but before he could react Aria's head sharply snapped to her left, her eyes scanning the area in front of, calculating. Then, she took off in the direction she knew she heard the scream. Ichigo swore under his breath and took off after her. She was fast. Almost too fast for Ichigo to follow.

Then another scream ripped through the air, the two tone voice making Aria pick her speed up. That was a hollow. Now she knew why the children were in a panic.

Finally, she came to a clearing. Down below she saw three children running through the brush and into the clearing. One fell, a little girl, her chin hitting the ground hard. Two boys ran forward, but one looked back and ran back for her, begging for her to get up.

Aria reached to her side, her Zanpakuto's appearing at her side as she pulled the one with the black hilt in her right hand. The hollow came into view, rampaging through the brush, desperately trying to get to the three souls. She leaped forward, her sword at her side ready to strike, the hollow only mere inches away. But out of nowhere a black blur appeared in front of it, slitting it in half before Aria even realized what happened.

She fell down, landing on her feet with ease, sheathing her katana back in its holster. The blurr she now recognized as a man, sheathed his sword too, then turned to find Aria staring at him. He was genuinely surprised to see her. Aria recognized him instantly, that tattoo's on his face being the dead giveaway. He was that guy who was with the wolf captain those two times she came across him.

"I didn't expect to see you out here," he stated calmly, walking over to her with a grip on his Zanpakuto. Instantly he noticed the two Zanpakuto's she had on the left side on her hip, his eyes narrowing in his own surprise. She didn't know if he was doing that out of habit, or if he didn't trust her. She didn't know him well enough to know which.

He was a couple of feet away before she narrowed her eyes at him, making him stop with hesitation. She didn't speak, only stared at the tattooed man in front of her. Before long, Ichigo appeared beside her, his eyes instantly meeting Hisagi's.

"Hisagi… what are you doing all the way out here?"

"Chasing after that hollow, of course. Why else would I be out here?" Hisagi turned to look at Aria again to see she still had her eyes set to a glare at him, not trusting him. "Do you have a problem with me?" He straight out asked, not understanding why she was acting the way she was.

Instead of answering, she turned to her right and began to walk. Both men watched her in wonder until they saw the kids sitting in the grass shaking. She walked to them, staring down at them with her normal uncaring, cold eyes. She knelt on one knee, getting to their levels and said not too nicely, "What the hell are you guys doing out here all alone? If that man back there hadn't been around you would be turning into hollow poo right about now." She wasn't the greatest with kids.

Ichigo and Hisagi both fell over with exasperation, their feet twitching in the air. Ichigo recovered quickly and hurriedly walked over and grabbed Aria by her collar, bringer her up to his level. "What the hell is wrong with you? Do you like tormenting kids?"

Aria blinked in confusion. "I only said the truth…"

"Saying they're going to turn into hollow poo isn't something you should say to reassure someone, especially kids!"

"Well, sorry," she said with sarcasm dripping off every word. "The world isn't full of butterflies and sunflowers and the only way to get kids to realize this sooner rather than later, the better off they are!"

Hisagi walked over to them, a sweat drop sliding down the side of his face as he stared at the two idiots in front of him. He brought his hand up, one finger pointed and asked, "Uh, guys?"

"Maybe your childhood wasn't full of butterflies and – whatever, doesn't mean others can't."

They heatedly stared each other down, both thinking they were right on the matter. The kids just watched as the two argued, the smallest had tears in her eyes, and then began to cry. Ichigo and Aria looked down at the child.

"Look, you made her cry!" Ichigo yelled, continuing the argument.

"She's only crying because you're arguing with…" Her eyes grew wide, not believing what she was feeling that very second.

Ichigo noticed and let go of her collar. "What is it?"

She turned around and looked up into the sky, the two men following suit. The sky began to ripple and distort, a large tear forming, almost like someone was ripping a wound open. And it was just like that as hands appeared at the opening and pulled, ripping the whole bigger and wider.

"Fuck!" Aria turned around and grabbed all three of the kids. "I'm putting them in the cave over there." She flashed stepped, Ichigo watching her as she put the kids at the entrance and was speaking frantically to them. They nodded at her and ran into the cave. She appeared next to them again, her eyes moving back to the tear. "Ichigo…"

Ichigo looked back at her, her head still looking toward the hole but she was looking at him in the corner of her eyes. "I want you to go in that cave as well, keep the kids safe. I'll keep them away from the cave so you won't have to do much fighting."

The screams echoed through the air, all three gritting their teeth, not believing what they were seeing. Hisagi looked at the two, his voice holding one of authority. "The soul society should be notified. They should be sending out a division now as we speak." Secretly, he wished it wasn't the 11th.

Aria took a step forward, but Ichigo put his hand on her shoulder and squeezed. "There's no way in hell I'm going to let you fight alone, not when you can't even use your Shikai-"

"Ichigo…" She cut him off, her voice filled with venom and hate that Ichigo had to let go of her shoulder, hesitating with confusion. "Don't make me say it again. Either you go in there or I'll force you. If I force you, you'll have to be sent to the 4th division barracks after I'm finished." She turned her head, her eyes glaring, she opened her mouth to say something more but stopped, her eyes growing wide again.

Finally, the first hollow made it through, but it wasn't a normal hollow. It was big, and they way it was looking away and not diving forward in search of food, suggested it had some intelligence "Adjuchas…" She breathed out.

"But, that's impossible!" Hisagi yelled, his eyes shaking with horror as more like the first hollow came forth, their spiritual pressure matching the first. Then, other hollows came through as well, almost all were normal hollows.

They were hanging in the air, searching the area, almost like they were calculating… or maybe they were looking for something. "There's no time to speculate why, we need to take action now!" she ordered. She grabbed her black sword in her right hand and turned around to look at Ichigo, but unlike before her eyes were pleading. "Please go."

He smiled. "Like I said before. It's going to take a lot more than that to get rid of me." Aria noted how genuine he was looking right then and there.

She turned around and snorted. "Your funeral. Don't expect me to come save your ass when you start fainting from using up whatever spiritual energy you have left."

"Nice vote of confidence…"

"There coming," Hisagi warned taking his sword from its sheath and jumped into the air to meet them halfway. Ichigo and Aria followed close.

All three stopped, swords drawn, ready to kick some hollow ass. They drew near, Aria lifted her sword up and placed it on her shoulder, her eyes darting from each Adjuchas. Twenty. Twenty different Adjuchas, and around fifty regular hollows. Her eyes narrowed, not liking the odds. Especially since she had to watch over Ichigo. His spiritual energy have been fluctuating the last couple of days, it was hard to tell how long he had. One day, his spiritual energy was high, normal, then the next, it was almost diminishing. She didn't understand why.

The Adjuchas were nearing, but once they were close enough, they stopped. Their bodies all ranging in size and color.

One began to laugh. He was the one in the front, random, she didn't suspect he was the leader. Actually, she had a feeling their leader wasn't there. She knew that they had a leader. This kind of attack wasn't random.

"Only three soul reapers? What a disappoint, a disappointment indeed." He flat out laughed, other followed his lead.

Another one began to speak, somewhere in the back where they couldn't see him through their massive bodies. "Who gets to eat them, I call dibs on the spikey, black haired one."

"No!" yet another one spoke. "Whoever kills them first gets to eat it. Rules are the same here, no matter where we are!"

And with that, they charged. All three braced themselves for the coming barrage of hollow bodies. The first swept its arm at Hisagi, but he easily dodged, in return cutting into its wrist. "Dammit," he grimaced, realizing it didn't go through all the way like it would have with a normal hollow. Another came behind, he dodged, then another, all repeating from either side of him.

Ichigo and Aria were in the same predicament. Aria cursed when she was separated from Ichigo. She dodged, sliced, kicked and flipped backwards, dodged again, and repeated. Her blows were hardly doing any damage. If only she could use her Shikai, one swipe of her black hilted sword in its released state would easily take care most, if not all, of the damned hollows.

She brought her sword up as a hollows mouth came bulldozing down toward her. It struck his bottom teeth, lodging in-between them. Another hollow came to her right, hitting her shoulder with its claws. She barely moved back and dislodged her sword in time before the blow was fatale. Still, blood flew through the air and she grimaced from the pain. She landed in a crouch and used all the strength in her legs to lunch herself forward at the one who wounded her and sliced her sword upwards when she was close enough to its face. It was a clean hit, blood spraying forward as it fell backwards. She landed one foot on its forehead and lunched herself forward onto her next target.

Where the hell were their so called back up? Did they not know about the giant Garganta that appeared out of nowhere in the sky only miles away from them?

Something wasn't right.

Was this… planned?

Ichigo used the power of his sword, the blue light cutting through the arm of a hollow. As it was preoccupied he set his sights on another one, calling forth the power of his sword once more. Unfortunately, a blow landed down his back, blood splaying forward and he let out a small, muffled cry. He brought his sword around, the blue light leaving it and killed the idiotic hollow that damaged his back.

"Dammit," he said while trying to get his breath back. "Where the hell are they?"

"Are you alright, Ichigo?" Aria called out, her attention drawn on her own hollows.

"Peachy."

Hisagi cut through another, realizing that they weren't getting anywhere when their getting attacked at all angles. He had to admit that Aria and Ichigo were holding their own, dodging the hollows attack without much damage. An idea popped in his head when he looked down.

He put some distance between him and the hollows and called to the two humans. "If we go in the woods, we might have an easier time losing some of the hollows while concentrating on others."

"Right." Ichigo let himself fall, Aria falling behind as she pushed back the hollows following close behind.

All three landed and turned back to back. The hollows circling around them. "Use the trees to your advantage," Hisagi said as he jumped forward and began to take down as many normal hollows he could so he wouldn't be as distracted when he goes after the more powerful ones.

Ichigo jumped back, dodging through trees as hollows barreled through trying to reach him. The smaller hollows were easy, his sword cutting through them like butter. But the more powerful ones were difficult. They would send in the weaker hollows in to attack and when they were distracted, they would try and take the kill. It wasn't a hard tactic to figure out, all three knew their plan.

Aria watched from the corner of her eye as Ichigo fought. She saw sweat forming down the side of his face. She growled, hating how things were going so slow. When the backup comes, if they ever come, she was going to give them all a new hole to crap out of.

Someone screamed. She instantly glanced at Ichigo, but saw he was still fighting his own. She glanced at Hisagi who was fighting with ease as well.

Then, she realized where the screams were coming from. Her features distorted to worry as she whipped around and looked toward the cave. The idiot children were outside, a hollow was flying down toward them, its mouth wide open, drooling as it expected an easy kill. Those stupid, stupid kids! She told them to stay in the cave and only to come out when she said so.

She cut through a normal hollow with ease, dodged another one, and then jumped off the mask of one coming from below as she propelled herself forward. The hollow was coming from the other direction of her.

"Aria!" Ichigo yelled out as he saw her propel through the air and down toward the cave. He saw the hollow directly below him, as Aria neared the cave she was at an angle where she didn't see the Adjucha follow close behind the other hollow.

But before he could even warn her, she already landed, her sword posed up as she swung down and cut through the hollows mask. It fell down, Aria watching it as it fell. A shadow jumped from above, its large mouth aimed for her. She brought up her sword to block, cursing herself for not seeing the damned thing following behind the hollow. The sword made contact with the teeth of the hollow, it pushed her back, her sword not cutting through.

Her back hit the wall, but the hollow continued to move forward from the momentum, angling to its right as the side of its mouth closed around her left shoulder and ribcage.

She yelled out in pain, as she tried to keep the mouth open with her sword. With her left she reached for her white hilted sword, but as soon as she looked over another hollow was on top of her, its mouth closing over her hip and right leg forcing her to scream out in complete agony.

No. This wasn't happening. This couldn't be happening.

"ARIA!" Ichigo yelled, he lunged forward but was caught by another hollow, forcing him to push back. He fought back, calling on his Bankai, slicing through the hollow and making another dive for her. He had to save her. He just had to.

He promised.

Aria's head fell forward, everything turning to slow motion. She saw Ichigo use his Bankai, using a lot of his energy to do so. The two hollows mouths slowly closed around her, crushing her bones and forcing blood to spew from her mouth.

She closed her eyes.

This was it. She was going to die.

'You're not dying that easily…'

Her eyes opened, the whites of her eyes turning black and her once blue eyes now a golden yellow. She smiled, a laugh reverberating from her throat, as she forced her left hand down and grabbed the white hilted sword. The whole right side of her body, including her face began to manifest white bone, growing and spreading. She let out a fit of laughter, swinging her sword down on top of the hollows scull, cutting through the Adjuchas skull with ease, and then swung to her right finding the same result.

She didn't hesitate, she flung forward, her laughter never stopping, taking out hollow after hollow. The muscles tearing from the exertion, but she didn't feel it. Her hollow side didn't give a damn about her body. Besides, she had more power than her human side. A hell lot more power.

With each cut, with each splatter of blood, with each kill, her laugh grew until she sounded hysterical, completely losing her mind.

The hollows began to dwindle, the adjuchas running for their lives, but Aria wouldn't let them go. She appeared in front of them, laughed at their pathetic attempt to escape and easily took care of them before they even realized what happened.

Ichigo watched in horror as Aria flung her body at the hollows. The power she was exerting, he couldn't believe what he was witnessing. It was terrifying. Was this what he looked like when he changed? Were other people terrified of him, too? She was enjoying the kill, her two-tone laugh echoing through the air sounding wicked and… wrong. That didn't sound like the Aria he knew. This was her hollow side. Her side that didn't care about anything but itself. Her whole right side was covered with the white mask, and it was growing at an incredibly fast pace. If it completely consumed her, he would lose her forever.

Aria killed the last hollow, her wicked eyes searching for another but was disappointed to see they were all destroyed. "That was it! No more?!" She bellowed. "Gah! That was weak! Pathetic!" her eyes searched frantically, looking for another opponent.

Her eyes settled on Ichigo. The look of horror on his face made her lick her lips with pleasure. "Ichigooooo… wanna play?"


	7. Chapter Seven: I Rather Die

Careless Wonder

Chapter Seven: I Rather Die

Hollowfied Aria laughed hysterically when she saw the worry in Ichigo's face intensified. Her nails racking the side of her exposed face making blood pour down and off her chin. She laughed again, her face distorting from one that wasn't human. She held her head high in the air, face staring up to the sky. Then, she suddenly stopped, her arms falling slack to her side and her head drooping to her left. But her wicked smile was still plastered on her face as she stared Ichigo down.

She flung forward, not giving him a chance to react as she brought her right sword up and sliced into his shoulder. Ichigo gritted his teeth and jumped away, holding onto his left shoulder. She laughed again, watching the pain in his face shift. "What's wrong, Ichigo? Can't fight back? Don't wanna hurt your friend?" He growled but she didn't let him speak. "Too bad you already broke your promise to her. Too bad you betrayed her."

"And how did I betray her? You haven't taken control yet, and I plan on helping Aria defeat you no matter what it costs me," he said rather calmly, but hollowfied Aria didn't let it deter her.

"You're growing weaker by the second. The longer you are in your Bankai, the quicker your energy dissipates. Poor, poor Ichigo. At this rate you won't be of any help when it's all gone." She launched forward again, slower so she could speak. "Let me kill you so you don't have to go through the pain of never seeing your friend again!" Her sword came down, but Ichigo brought his up effectively blocking it. She swung her other sword, he flashed stepped away with her following close. "You'll never see Rukia again! You're wasting away your energy and at this rate it's only a matter of time until she goes bye-bye."

That hit the spot she was looking for. He hesitated, his eyes growing wide at the realization. He wouldn't allow himself to think of it, but hearing someone say it… it hit a sore spot.

She appeared in front of him, crouched low and her sword already swinging toward his abdomen. But she didn't make contact. Instead, she was hit from her right and was flung out of sight though the trees. Hisagi rested next to Ichigo. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah." He looked in the direction she disappeared to and frowned. "Just don't hurt her, I know she'll come back to her senses." He paused, then nodded his head to confirm it. "She has to."

She appeared a couple of feet away, her smile never leaving her face. The hollowfication was spreading, the white mask already reaching over to her left side, he could see it slithering as it tried to reach its destination. Her whole right side of her body was hollowfied, spikes protruding from her shoulder and half her back. One blue line went down her arm, and another line was underneath her hollowfied right eye.

"I have two play toys now?" she laughed, her shoulders shaking from the adrenaline of it. "Still too easy."

Again, she flung her body forward, laughing a shrill laugh that would make anyone cringe.

Hisagi intercepted the attack aimed for Ichigo. He appeared in front of Ichigo and let his sword take the blow for her two swords. He grimaced as he held his hilt with two hands, trying to fend off her attack. He heard a crack. He looked down at his sword and saw the middle where the two swords hit was indeed cracking his own katana.

"Dammit," he said under his breath. He pushed forward on his sword and to the left, her own swords following. He flipped backwards away from her, but that momentarily loss of sight was enough for her to disappear when Hisagi eyes landed back at the sight she was formally at. He swore again as he looked around him, trying to sense her spiritual energy. Why couldn't he sense it?

He heard a laugh below him. As he looked down he was already preparing his sword to counter her attack. But to his dismay she didn't attack him with her swords. No. instead, when he finally looked down her feet where facing him, her body was in a crouched position and was upside down ready to kick him. She did. Her feet made contact with his chest forcing the air out of his lungs, and his body flying up through the air uncontrollably.

High up in the air he regained control of his body, stopping himself and took a large breath of air. She wouldn't allow him any time to catch his breath. Again, she appeared in front of him, her white mask gleaming in the sun, her mouth distorted in an inhuman smile. He brought his Zanpakuto up to block when he saw her swinging, both of her Zanpakuto's aimed for him.

She let go of her Zanpakuto's, both hovering in the air which only confused Hisagi, but his eyes grew wide as he saw her next move.

She crossed her arms, grabbing her Zanpakuto's in opposite hands, her white hilt now in her right, her black on in her left. She sliced an "X", blood spraying from his chest, his eyes wide in disbelief. She laughed hysterically as she watched him fall down. When he was close to hitting the ground Ichigo caught him, landing on his feet and gently placed Hisagi on the ground. He began to cough up blood.

"Hisagi…"

"I'm fine," He coughed out, more blood spraying out.

"Like hell you are."

"I've been through worse, believe me." He looked up into the sky and grimaced. "She's coming."

Ichigo stood up and turned around with his sword in both hands and his eyes set to determination. She wasn't too far away, her head titled to the side as she stared down toward Hisagi's body. She was still smiling which made Ichigo grimace. Did he look like that when he lost control?

"What's wrong, Ichigo? Déjà vu?" Her shrilled, two-toned voice broke the silence that recently hung in the air.

He visibly winced when he heard her speak. She looked upon him with a smug smile when she saw it. "I guess you could say that." Ichigo replied, his voice strong and unwavering.

"Are you scared, Ichigo? Do I scare you?" she was leaning forward, her head tilted far to the left and her arms swinging limp at her sides.

"No. I'm not scared."

"Then why do you wince every time I talk? Or when I'm laughing, having fun killing one of your friends."

"I'm not scared of you," he began, the confidence in his voice evident. "To tell you the truth, I feel bad for you. Like my own inner hollow, all you want is to be set free. You fight with everything you've got, but when you're free your freedom is short lived when your queen takes control again. Every time I hear your voice it only reminds me of what I had to go through when I defeated my own hollow, and as I think about it all I imagine is Aria going through the exact same thing. I don't want to put her through something like that. She's my friend, but nonetheless, I will help her fight you. I promised to help defeat you and I plan on keeping that promise." Again, his voice didn't waver and that made the hollow hesitate.

The hollow actually hesitated.

But, it began smiling again. "No, you're not, because I'm going to kill you right here, right now."

"STOP!" A voice boomed over the two. They both looked up as soul reaper after soul reaper appeared. They began surrounding the two, a couple appeared behind Ichigo to assess Hisagi's condition.

Aria narrowed her dark eyes at the old man above her. Head captain Yamamoto was there and he was staring right back at the hollowfied Aria, but what mostly caught his eye was the all too familiar pair of swords she was wielding, particularly the white hilt one.

She took a step back, her eyes darting over the bodies of the soul reapers. She frowned. Someone with a captain's haori over their Shihakusho began to fall down slowly until he was at a pretty good distance away from the two, staring at Aria's hollowfied form. Now, the only parts of her body that wasn't covered was her left forearm and the bottom left of her jaw and mouth. She had almost completely hollowfied.

"Shinji…" Ichigo began but stopped. What could he say about the matter?

"This… is interesting. Her hollow side has more control over most. Usually, they would continue attackin', but you…" he drawled out as he stared at Aria with interest, his right hand scratching his chin. "You have more self-control."

She smiled. "Are you so sure about that?" She pointed her left sword at him, her head tilted to the side as her smile grew to insane levels. "Wanna test it?"

"I rather not." He gave her a pointed look. "You're out numbered. You have no hope of winnin', especially since Aria didn't call on her Shikai. Right now, you're weak."

She growled, her eyes growing wide with fury. "You think I'm weak!?" she yelled out making everyone around her tense. Her eyes roamed around her. Many of the soul reapers had regular Shihakusho's on, but she noticed others that had white haori's on. She counted five captain's. He was right, she was outnumbered.

She smiled again. "So you want me to let Aria have control again and when she calls on the power of her swords, I'll take control again?" Shinji didn't answer, so she guessed that was a yes. She flat out laughed. "Do you think I'm stupid? What if I rather die than let her take control of this body I deserve?"

"Then we'll stop you and lock you up for however long it takes until you release her body." He was beginning to rush, he tried his best to keep his cool, but he felt the sweat already forming on his face. Her hollowfication was growing faster than he ever seen it grow before. Aria was almost out of time and this wasn't the time for her to try and defeat her hollow side. He wasn't even sure if she was conscious at the moment.

"Well, that doesn't sound fun." She stared him down, her wicked smile never faltering. For what felt like a century, she shrugged her shoulders. "Fine. Besides, I rather be at my full strength when I kill everyone in the soul society anyways." She watched the lower ranked officers clenched their swords with anger. That made her excitement grow. Shinji visibly sighed making Aria laugh. He looked up at her with question. "But, I have to do something first."

"You better make it quick."

"It will only take a second." She turned her attention back to Ichigo, her eyes growing wide with excitement. "I'm going to kill him."

Before anyone could react she was already on the pursuit. She disappeared from sight, but in an instant she was underneath Ichigo, her right sword poised for his chest as she thrust her sword forward.

Sword tearing into flesh was heard like an echo. Everyone's wide eyes stared down in disbelief at what they were witnessing.

Ichigo stared ahead of him, not understanding why he wasn't feeling pain. There was a fluid filled cough and he felt something slump against him. He looked down seeing the remaining of her hollowfied form diminishing from her body. He almost smiled but stopped when he saw the sword protruding from her back. He instantly crouched down to her form, holding her in his arms as he pushed her forward and let her lie back into his arms.

She coughed again, blood forming in the corner of her mouth. Her breathing was labored.

Ichigo was still shocked, his eyes wide as he looked her over. The hilt of her white sword was pressed against her chest, the blade cleanly cut through her left chest where her heart should be.

She coughed again and took a weak breath of air. She opened her eyes and looked up at Ichigo to see his… frightened eyes staring back down at her. She smiled.

"Why?" his voice shook, tears threatening the corner of his eyes.

She closed her eyes and chuckled, but was soon followed by a small fit of coughing. "Because," she began weakly, her voice sounding raspier than usual. "I rather die… then kill the only friend I have."

Ichigo shook his head. "You're an idiot! This wasn't…"

"Ichigo…" she began, her eyes slowly closing. "Don't blame yourself, jackass… because if I die… I'll haunt you for the rest of your existence if you do…" She finally closed her eyes and let the darkness take over with its calming grasp.

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Ichigo paced back and forth in front of the room Aria was currently occupying. Shinji and Ichigo both took her instantly to the fourth division barracks with Hisagi close behind. When they arrived, Unohana was already waiting for them, like she was expecting this sort of thing to happen. When he handed over, her still breathing body he was refused to follow, so now he was pacing back and forth with Shinji sitting in a seat not too far from Ichigo with his arms and legs crossed and his eyes closed as he thought.

"What's taking so long?" Ichigo growled out, not liking the wait.

"Calm down, Ichigo. I'm sure she's just fine. I have a feelin' she's more stubborn than she looks. She wouldn't die from a little stab wound," Shinji stated calmly, his eyes still closed.

Ichigo just growled further but didn't reply. He thought back on how he was holding her, as she looked up at him with those eyes… like she didn't care she was going to die. She looked happy. Why was she so happy?

Finally, the door slide open, Unohana slipped through and closed it behind her. She turned to the worried boy. "Well?" he couldn't help but ask.

She smiled sweetly at him. "She'll be fine. The sword… how should I put this in words." She thought about it, her expression showing a bit of concern. "When you brought her in she was impaled by her white hilted sword. It went through cleanly and her aim was perfect, the blade did go straight through her heart."

Ichigo looked shocked beyond words, but he managed to ask the simple question. "Then – how did she survive."

She smiled her sweet smile again. "That sword is very unique. It pierced the skin and lung, but passed through her heart without damaging it in the least. Her sword somehow immaterialized itself around the area of her heart."

Shinji stood up and casually strolled over to his fellow captain. "How is that even possible?"

"You may have to ask her that yourself. You can go see her if you like, she's awake now."

"Well, why didn't you say so?!" Ichigo walked passed her and slide open the door. In the far corner of the room was Aria sitting in a medical bed with an IV in her right arm. Her bed was up, letting her sit up and stare out the window. Ichigo sighed in silent relief. When he began to move, Aria turned her head slightly to see who entered her room.

"Ichigo…"

He stopped and looked at her. She noted the serious look on his face when he simply stared down at her. His eyes were searching hers, looking for answers for whatever turmoil was going on in his mind.

Finally he spoke.

"You're an Idiot!" he yelled out, startling Aria. He stomped the rest of the way over and actually grabbed her by the collar of her white robe and brought her face to face with him. "Don't you ever do that again!"

The door slide open and both Unohana and Shinji walked in. "What are you doing, Ichigo!" Shinji couldn't believe the way he was treating someone who almost died. When he took a step forward to stop him, Unohana put her hand on his shoulder and shook her head when he looked back at her. He grunted but stood his ground nonetheless.

"Don't do what again?" Aria asked calmly.

"Don't you ever try to kill yourself to save me. I'm the one who made a promise, not you. If you try a stunt like that again I'll beat the friggin' crap out of ya no matter what condition you are in! Got that?"

Aria looked at with stunned disbelief. She regained her composure and glared at him. "And why the hell should I listen to you?"

"Because I'm the one who's helping you not the other way around."

"Sorry Ichigo, but I can't agree to that." She reached forward and grabbed one of his hands. "Can you let me go, you're making the IV pull on my arm and it's making me feel sick to my stomach."

Unohana whispered in the back of the room, but everyone could hear when Ichigo fell silent. "To tell you the truth," she whispered to Shinji. "The last half hour was me trying to convince her that she needed an IV. It seems she has a very high fear of needles."

Aria's face paled. "Don't say that word…"

Ichigo finally let her go and she fell back to her bed. She brushed her robe down and glared up at the teen boy, but his eyes were overshadowed by his bangs. "And why can't you agree?" his tone was serious, more serious than she ever heard him before. He almost sounded grim.

She sighed and turned toward the window to look out it once more. "Because Ichigo, I have no one. You, on the other hand, have a family, two sisters you have to protect, and friends that love you. I'm not going to take you away from them."

Silence filled the room. Everyone in the room stayed quiet as they waited for Ichigo to respond. Thankfully, it didn't take long.

"You say you don't have anyone? Well, you're dead wrong." He leaned down on one knee and finally looked at her with a level stare. "You've got me, and as long as I'm breathing I'll do everything in my power to protect you, no matter what you think or what your thoughts are about the matter."

Aria glared down at him, but he didn't wince or falter. He was still staring at her with that look of his…

She punched him. "You jackass!" she just realized she hated that look on his face, especially when it was directed at her.

He fell onto his back, his head hitting the ground with a crack causing his eyes to swirl in the back of his head. She tried to stand but Unohana was by her side instantly, restraining her from doing so. "I've never asked you to be my knight in shining armor! That little speech may work on your other friends that are girls, and they probably get all like," she said the next part with a high pitched voice. " 'Oh Ichigo, your just so coooool, I'll open my legs for you any day!' Well, I'm not like that! I can take care of myself and I'll make my own decisions thank-you-very-much. And if I want to die to save your pathetic ass THEN I"LL DIE AND THERE"S NOTHING YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT!"

As she was yelling, Ichigo sat up and held onto the cheek she punched. He was staring at her incredulously, his eye twitching. Usually, his speeches always worked, but she was different she was… "You're a bigger idiot than I thought! And what the hell did you mean…" his face went red as he repeated her words in his head. "Do you think I'm some womanizer or something?!"

"What do you think!?"

Ichigo's face grew redder by the moment. Shinji had his hand on his mouth as he stifled a laugh. He was actually starting to like this girl.


	8. Chapter Eight: Confinement

Careless Wonder

Chapter Eight: Confinement

"Her body took more damage than what should have been necessary. She's still in her human body, she didn't separate from her body before she came here or before she transformed."

Shinji thought back to what Unohana had told him when he left the fourth division barracks. That – was a problem. How was it even possible for her to access her powers while she was still in her human body? It was unheard of. Even when he had a Gigai on, it was almost impossible to draw on his soul reapers powers.

He tried to come up with an explanation on the matter, but came up empty. If she could draw her powers through her human body which was supposed to act as an inhibitor for spiritual pressure, he wondered how much more powerful she actually was. The damage she did, even in her human body, was exponential. Imagining her in her shikai would only bring more devastation. Even Shuuhei couldn't handle the power when she hollowfied in her normal state.

'This will be – problematic…' Shinji thought to himself. 'I may have to ask for help, much to my own dismay, but I highly doubt the normal group, even including Ichigo, will find this task not easy. One on one was definitely out of the question.' Shinji sighed, his hand pressed to his head to scratch it hesitantly. 'This will be a total drag, asking for help is outside my comfort zone.'

Again, another sigh. He reached forward to the knob of his office, turning it and walking in while closing the door behind him. He knew he was going to have a lot of paper work after the day's wonderful events.

Still, one thing was still bothering him, even when Ichigo asked the question he didn't know the answer. And to his own knowledge, no one else knew the answer as well.

Why didn't The Department of Research and Development, (decided to take the English dub version of it since I'm currently re-watching everything in the dubbed version instead of subbed), catch the Garganta tear?

The department was only informed when the spike of Aria's hollowfication took place.

Nothing made sense, but there was no use pondering over it. He would know eventually. He had to be patient.

He sat down at his desk, his eyes scanning over the paperwork in front of him. There were at least one-hundred different reports on his desk. He sighed yet again. This was something he definitely did not miss.

Something moved in her peripheral vision, his head twisting to see a hell butterfly flying through his open window and over to where he was sitting.

Looked like he didn't have to wait long to get his answers.

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Yamamoto had called a captain's only meeting. Surprisingly, all the captains attended, which was rare that they didn't have to wait a day or two for captains that were sent off a faraway mission to arrive.

Shinji took his place in the meeting room. All the captains made it on time, not one lingering behind. Yamamoto didn't waste any time as he appeared in front of the room, his squinting, old eyes looking through the captains' one face at a time.

"You may all know why I've called you here at a moment's notice." Yamamoto paused, again his eyes scanning the captains. "Today's events were troublesome. The reason why we weren't aware of the Garganta tear was because The Department of Research and Development's machines suddenly shut down. The reason is still unknown for the moment…"

All the captains seemed surprised and nervous. Their eyes shifting from one another almost like they wanted someone to speak up and give an explanation. No such thing happened.

"It has also come to my attention," Yamamoto paused yet again, like he was trying to search for the right words. Something that was not like him, and it only made some of the captains more nervous, including Shinji. "That Aria holds an item, or Zanpakuto that has caused problems in the past. Problems I do not wish to repeat again."

Unahana stepped forward to speak, her usual happy smile not present. "What do you mean? One of her Zanpakuto's was…"

"Locked away after the owner was dealt with, but the Zanpakuto stayed, waiting for its next master to arrive. For these reasons, and these reasons alone, she will be forced to give up her Zanpakuto, and if she refuses, then I order an immediate execution."

"You can't be serious," Shinji spoke up, his voice holding one of annoyance and anger. "You can't just expect someone to just give up their Zanpakuto! It's like giving up a part of their soul, you can't expect her to agree to this."

Yamamoto opened his eyes to look over at Shinji. "My decision is final. Whichever captain happens upon her first will bring her into custody. There will be no more questions of the matter. This meeting is dismissed."

Everyone walked out, some solemnly and others with non-caring attitude. Shinji had his head down in thought, not quite believing what he had heard. The worst part about the matter was if she refuses, Ichigo would no doubt ably try to protect her, that same way he protected Rukia. But unlike last time, Ichigo wouldn't have a choice, this was something completely different. Yamamoto found her to be a threat if she didn't give up her Zanpakuto, and if she fought back… he really didn't know what her choice would be.

"What do you think about this matter?" Toshiro appeared next to Shinji outside of the meeting room, his arms crossed and his face set in his usual serious scowl. Toshiro knew Shinji was one, (not including Sajin because Toshiro didn't know those two conversed), of the only captains whom talked to Aria. He wanted to know his opinion about her and the current situation.

Shinji sighed and shook his head. "I think head captain Yamamoto is taking this too far. From what I've noticed, Aria is a good kid, she just needs help with her hollowfication issue." He glanced down at Toshiro, not knowing his reaction would be to the news, but he didn't seemed fazed. "To tell you the truth, I don't think Aria will give up her Zanpakuto so easily, and I don't think she'll go down without a fight… and then there's Ichigo…"

"Yes," Toshiro began as he looked down to contemplate. "I was thinking that same thing, and if she did fight back she'll probably hollowfy again. I believe she'll cause a lot of damage unless we incarcerate her first…"

Shinji tried his best not to flinch. He remembered now Toshiro was there when Aria lost control. He saw what she was capable of. This wasn't good, and the way he was talking made Shinji believe Toshiro agreed without question with Yamamoto's choice. Actually, it didn't really surprise him.

"Hirako," someone else called. He looked over and saw Captain Komamura walking over to them. He also seemed… worried like Shinji was. "Will you be one of the captains to attain Aria?" he glanced over at Toshiro wondering if he was going as well.

"It would probably be best if I'm the one to break the news to her. I just hope she comes without a fight, but I'm more worried about Ichigo causing problems than Aria."

Captain Komamura nodded, agreeing completely. "If you don't mind, I wish to come along as well. Maybe if things get out of hand, my words might help defuse the situation."

"That's probably a good idea, if I don't get through Ichigo's thick skull then maybe two captains word might help knock some sense into him."

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Aria watched the nurse come into the room wheeling in something she found very displeasing to see. The nurse turned her attention to her, her smile warm and welcoming. Aria glared, not liking her attitude toward the upcoming situation she was going to find herself in.

"How are you doing, Aria? Any pain?" she asked, her smile not leaving her too happy face.

Aria's glare deepened. "Fine," she replied sharply.

The nurse nodded, ignoring Aria's attitude completely. She turned her attention back to the cart, her hand moving over the contents causing Aria's eyes to grow with nervousness. When the nurse turned back around Aria was cowering in the far end of the bed away from her as she only stared at the needle in the nurses' hand.

This caused Ichigo to snicker. Aria gave him a death glare over to where he was sitting next to the bed. "Didn't know you were such a baby when it came to a little needle?" Ichigo mocked, his snicker growing into a laugh as he watch Aria open her mouth to make a snide comeback but stopped short when she saw the nurse advancing on her with the needle.

"Get that pointy thing away from me!" She yelled. She was still cowering in the corner as the nurse squeezed the liquid out a little to make sure it was flowing correctly. She gave Aria another warm smile.

"I wouldn't have to give you a shot if you kept the IV in, now hold still I don't want to accidently poke you in the wrong spot."

The nurse had the needle poised for her arm, but Aria dodged at the last minute and moved over to the other side of the bed near Ichigo. "Like that makes me feel any better! Now go away you she-devil!"

The nurses' eyebrow twitched as she tried her best to keep a smiling face, but Aria and Ichigo could see the fire behind her hazel eyes. "Will you stop being a baby and just take the shot already. You need it just in case you get an infection…" she said through gritted teeth.

Again, she advanced on Aria, her arm flying forward as she tried to stab Aria in the arm but she continued to invade the needled.

Finally, the nurse felt the needle hit flesh, but…

"What the hell!" Ichigo yelled as he looked at the needle protruding from his arm. At the last second before the needle made contact with her arm Aria grabbed Ichigo's and used his arm as a shield, pulling it in front of her and smiling wickedly as the needle punctured his skin. Ichigo glared at the supposed red head below him. She gave him a victory smile and that only pissed him off further. "Don't you want to get better?"

"I am better. I could leave now if I wanted to," Aria snickered at the glowering face Ichigo was giving her.

"That's good to hear…" Aria turned her head toward the voice to see the door opening with Shinji walking into the room. There was – something wrong, Aria could see it instantly. Behind him were two more captains, Sajin and the short white haired one… If she remembered correctly Ichigo called him Toshiro back at the festival.

"What's going on?" Ichigo asked, noticing the same thing Aria had. He stood up from his seat and stood in front of Aria. He knew it had something to do with her.

Shinji hesitated then sighed, rubbing the back of his head as he tried to come up with the best way to say their predicament without Ichigo going overboard. "Head Captain Yamamoto," he hesitated again to sigh while crossing his arms. "Look, I really don't want to do this but he left me no choice. Aria, you're under confinement for harboring an illegal Zanpakuto. You have to come with us immediately. If you resist… if you resist we have no choice but to terminate you."

"What the hell, Shinji!" Ichigo swung his arm in front of his body, his eyes wide with rage. "Why does-"

Before he could finish his sentence a hand reached out and grabbed Ichigo's shoulder. "Ichigo…" Aria said, getting his attention. He turned his head to look at her, his eyes were still wide but more from surprise than anger. She was now standing, he didn't even hear her get up. "It's all right. I figured something like this may happen if he saw my white Zanpakuto." When he turned to look at her she crossed her arms and looked away from him, not wanting to meet his eyes. "I tried my best to not bring them out while we were around these soul reapers… but that didn't happen."

"This is stupid," Ichigo began his rant again. "How the hell can a Zanpakuto be illegal?..." Then he stopped as he thought over her words. His eyes searched her face, trying to find something, anything, to help make sense of the situation. "What do you mean you knew something like this happened if…" he trailed off, he didn't have to repeat her words.

Aria looked back at him, seeing his eyes scrutinizing hers. "It's a long story… but I'll try my best to shorten it for someone like you to understand." Even during their current situation, she still found the time to make fun of him. Of course, he wasn't fazed, he was too serious to really care at the moment. "My white Zanpakuto was sealed away because some bad guy in the past tried to use it for no good, obviously. So, Yamamoto sealed it away after he found out that this certain Zanpakuto didn't just disappear with its master like normal Zanpakuto's, instead it was already searching for another master. He was afraid something like what happened in the past would occur again. Anyways, my mom, before she became a human for whatever reason, stole the Zanpakuto before she left. Don't ask, I don't know why, I was too young to understand that stuff back then. Now since it's in my possession and I'm its new master, Yamamoto is afraid that I'll repeat the past and this time he may not have the strength to stop it."

"Wait a minute, so you're telling me this Zanpakuto is so powerful that even Yamamoto is afraid of it?" Ichigo was scratching the side of his head as he thought it over. He was confused. "Still, why does he have to arrest you because it's in your possession? He doesn't even know you. He just making wild assumptions."

"You're right, he doesn't know me." She looked away from Ichigo and stared at the three captains, but she still continued to address her next words to Ichigo. "You're wrong about one thing, my white Zanpakuto isn't powerful. In fact, in its released state it can't even cut through I flies wings, even if I tried."

"I'm confused…"

Aria sighed. "Of course you are. The reason why he's afraid of my Zanpakuto is because it can create… portals to anywhere without any restriction. That also includes a portal to the Soul King's domain." She said the last part quietly, but everyone still heard her nonetheless.

Shinji stepped forward, the shock clear on his face. "So that's why Head Captain is determined to recapture your Zanpakuto. If your power fell into the wrong hands-"

Aria cut him off, seemed like she was in the mood for it. "That's why I ran away. I'm pretty sure that's why Aizen was after me. I knew what would happen if someone was able to manipulate me. That… and because I was afraid of killing people I cared for, for reason you all know already."

When she mentioned Aizen's name everyone's face grew from shock to stern. Seemed the wound still hadn't healed from their battle. Aria watched all their faces, even Ichigo eyes furrowed when she said his name. "But, Sukui won't give me up so easily. He's actually really grumpy and hates it when other people touch him, which I can understand completely after being left locked up for over a thousand years."

Sajin stepped forward, everyone's eyes turned toward him and his towering form. "Sukui is the name of the Zanpakuto you were referring to?" Aria nodded. "What do you mean he won't give you up so easily?"

"When he's taken away he reappears at my side instantly. He's a weird Zanpakuto by the way, he likes to defy logic." Aria noticed the change in the wolf captain before her. He seemed distraught about something. "Why?"

"Head Captain Yamamoto strictly said that if you are not willing to give up your Zanpakuto, you will be executed immediately…"

Aria noticed Ichigo stiffen next to her, she gave him a sideways glance and watched the emotions run through his face; namely anger. "Well then," Aria shrugged, looking away from Ichigo and putting her attention back to the three captains. "Looks like I'm going to be executed on the spot."

Ichigo turned toward her, she saw the all too familiar flame in his eyes. "How can you even say that? Don't you care if you live or die?"

Aria stared back at him, she kept her face firm, not breaking eye contact. "I'm not like you Ichigo," she began slowly. "There's not a lot for me to live for. If it's my time to die then I'll accept that."

Ichigo growled. "You're a bigger idiot than I thought! You're just willing to give up your life just like that? Without caring what other people may feel?"

Aria glared up at him, shifting from one foot to the other turning her body toward him. "You're not going to make this easy, are you? Who said that it's absolute? Maybe luck will be on my side, you never know."

"Yeah, but-"

"Ichigo," that was the second time she cut him off, but this time her eyes softened. "Let's just see what happens. I don't want any unnecessary violence, especially something over someone like me. I won't allow it." Then she began to glare at him again. "And if you continue to try and fight back I'll take you down myself." She turned around ignoring whatever Ichigo had to say next. "Anyways, I'm ready to go once I'm out of this stupid white robe." She tugged on the collar of her robe with distaste. "Feels like I'm wearing a dress and I hate dresses."

The nurse that everyone forgot about took a step forward, from the movement everyone looked over toward her with question. "Your clothes that you had on earlier were torn and useless, so we threw them away. But I am more than happy to get you a new Shihakusho for you to wear."

Aria rolled her eyes. "It's better than wearing a robe. Don't want to feel a breeze in uncomfortable places."

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The men left the room for Aria to get dressed. She slowly put on the black Shinigami outfit as she thought about what just occurred. If she could reach Sukui would he let her go? Was that even possible? She hadn't talked to him since she was ten. Every time she went to her inner world her hollow was the only one there. Even though it's been awhile she still remembered his personality. He was stern, strict, non-outgoing, and always talked about how weak she was. She also remembered him saying that he didn't give a damn if she lived or died. If she died he'll find a more suitable master.

But Hakai, her black Zanpakuto, was almost the opposite. He was outgoing, fun, energetic, and playful all around. Of course he was stern when he had to be, but at least he acted like he cared about her.

She tightened the white sash around her hips and sighed. Would today be the day her life would end? She knew it actually didn't end, she would be reborn as a soul without any memory of her human life. Ichigo acted like it was the end of the world if she died, she didn't understand why he was acting the way he was. Would he really risk his life to save hers? They've only been friends for one day…

He was a dumbass.

She nodded her head in agreement. She turned around and walked to the door and opening it to see everyone was waiting for her outside. She nodded to them and they began to escort her out of the fourth division barracks.

Suddenly, she remembered something. "Wait," she said and stopped walking. "There's one more thing I have to do. It'll be quick, I promise."

Sajin was the first to nod his head. "What is it?"

"Um," she looked away, she could feel her facial expression change to something she hated others to see. Regret and sadness. "Where's Hisagi's room? I needed to say… I need to tell him…"

"I understand, he's right down the hallway, but you don't need to tell him you're sorry. I can guarantee you that he understands and has already forgave you." The wolf captain gave her a knowing look, when she looked up at him she could see the truth in his eyes. She smiled warily toward him, but continued to walk down the hallway toward Hisagi's room.

His door was closed. She stood in front of it and her hand went up to open the door but stopped… was she scared? Nervous? She looked down at her hand to find it shaking. This wasn't like her… of course, how was she supposed to act in this sort of situation? She never been in this predicament before. She's been alone for so long…

She looked over at Ichigo, she didn't know why but she guessed it was for encouragement. She could just walk away, leave things how they were… no, she had to do this.

When her eyes meet Ichigo, he nodded his head and a light smile played on his lips. She nodded to and turned her head back toward the door. She took a deep breath and opened it, walking in and shutting it behind her.

She looked over at the bed where Hisagi was at. He was sitting up with his feet hanging over the edge. He still had his black shinigami bottoms on, but his upper body was bear with bandages covering almost every inch of his upper skin.

Hisagi looked over from rotating his right shoulder to the now shutting door.

"Aria?" His gruff voice called out, he was more than surprised to see her, but he knew why she was there. Aria could see it in his eyes when his surprise was gone and was replaced with a knowing… smile.

"You shouldn't be smiling," she mumbled, but Hisagi sill heard her.

"Why not, it wasn't your fault you know. Shit happens."

Aria looked away as emotions began to bubble up inside her. She was missing her hoodie right about then. She could easily hide her face in it. "I'm sorry," she said lamely causing her to grimace at her own tone of voice. She coughed into her hand and continued with a stronger one. "I'm sorry for what I did to you, I shouldn't had let myself lose control. I could have easily deflected that stupid attack, but I was being careless and stupid and…"

"Hey now," this time it was Hisagi who cut her off. He was now sitting up straight with his arm crossed and an amused smile on his lips. "Don't go insulting yourself for something you couldn't help. Does it look like I'm mad or even care about what happened? I don't want your apology, you got that?"

When she looked away unconvinced by his words, he sighed and stood up ignoring the slight pain in his chest. He walked over to her and placed both palms on her shoulders. He leaned down slightly to look her in the face. "Don't look like I'm lying, 'cause I'm not. Things happen that can be out of your control. It happens to everyone, including me. I know it's hard to forgive yourself for something that plagued your past and decided to resurface out of nowhere, but if you don't forgive yourself you are unable to move forward and get on with your life." She looked up at him and he gave her a goofy grin. "Now stop being all grumpy and let's see that smile."

She blushed slightly from the proximity and gave him a small smile. When he seemed satisfied she shoed his hands away from her shoulders and turned sideways to cross her arms. "Well, at least I got that off my chest." She looked back up at him and saw he still had that same smile on. "By the way, I don't like to be touch. Next time your balls will be on the line."


	9. Chapter Nine: Because of You

Careless Wonder

Chapter Nine: Because of You

She was bored. No, more than bored. She was extremely irritated and fed up. If Yamamoto didn't kill her she knew she would die from her boredom.

They placed her under confinement, they did a good job of it, too. They locked her up in some jail cell with no bed… nothing. The cell she was in was bare and all she could do was lie on the ground, her arms and legs sprawled and her eyebrow twitching with utter annoyance.

How long had it been now? Three hours? Four? She didn't know. If felt like an eternity to her. She wasn't use to lying around and doing nothing. Even when she was alone she had something to do…

Footsteps echoed throughout the jail cell, walking down the hall presumably toward her confinement. She continued to lie on the ground with her hands behind her head and her left foot crossed over her raised knee. When the footsteps stopped in front of her cell she continued to lie there with her eyes closed, not acknowledging the presence.

"You've been summoned," a deep, almost uncaring, emotionless voice called out and getting her attention immediately.

She opened her eyes and looked over at the soul reaper who was sent to retrieve her. He was a captain, the white haori a dead, and obvious giveaway. He had long black hair and these weird, almost looked like a silver barrettes, in his hair. His expression was no different from how he addressed her. She pushed her body up until she was standing on her feet and facing the captain.

"Let's get this over with," she sighed and walked forward when he opened her jail cell. When he closed it she glanced around her, her face showing her surprise. "You're the only one to retrieve me? Thought there would be more of you just in case I tried to bolt or something."

He turned back toward her, his face never wavering from his non-caring, almost arrogant expression. "I didn't deem it necessary to waste the time of others to retrieve you when I'm more than capable of handling you myself." He turned forward toward the exit and began walking. "Come. We don't want to keep everyone waiting."

She glared at the back of his head but followed after him. He was arrogant. "I highly doubt that." She was arrogant, too. She scratched her now bare arms with irritation, she tore the sleeves off a while back. She hated sleeves.

He turned his head to glance at her before turning forward and opening the door to the outside world. He stood to the side for her to walk through, she did so without looking at him. When she heard the door slide closed, she began to speak without turning to face him. "What's your opinion about me and this matter?" She shoved her hands into her pockets waiting for him to speak.

He walked passed her not waiting to see if she was following or not. "I don't have an opinion about your predicament nor do I care. The truth will come forward with or without your cooperation." He suddenly stopped almost causing Aria to run into him. "But Ichigo Kurosaki sees you as a friend."

When he didn't elaborate any further she opened her mouth to say something but he began to speak again, almost like he already knew what she was going to ask. "Ichigo Kurosaki has earned my respect through his past actions. With that said, his opinion greatly reflects of what I think."

He continued walking and she followed close behind. She thought about what he said and it troubled her. Ichigo seemed popular with all the soul reapers there. He had a lot of respect and it showed greatly with everyone around him.

They continued walking with silence until they came up to a building with closed doors, (where the captains meet). He opened them and turned to let her walk in first. She would have thought it to be gentlemen like, but she knew he was doing it for other reason.

All thirteen captains, including the head captain, were present. They stood in two rows and at the end was Yamamoto. All were looking at her when she entered, there were other soul reapers present as well. She recognized one to be Hisagi who stood behind a captain with short white hair and broad muscles. Next to Hisagi was another soul reaper girl with green hair who was looking at her with interest and wonder. She assumed those were the lieutenants accompanying the captains.

Every single soul reaper was looking at her making her cross her arms and shift from one foot to the other in discomfort. Someone cleared their throat to her right. She looked over and about fell down with complete and utter shock to see Kisuke standing near the wall with Ichigo next to him. He was waving his hand and had a goofy grin plastered on his face. Ichigo just had his trademark scowl with his arms crossed in anger. He was still mad about what was happening. She wondered how they let both of them in on this… interrogation. Kisuke must had pulled a lot of strings.

Wait, was he even allowed back in the soul society? Oh yeah, they did defeat Aizen and saw everything was his doing of past events that caused Kisuke's banishment. She wondered when they worked that out. Maybe that's why it took three hours…

The arrogant black haired captain walked past her and into his own spot among the captains. She walked forward her face set to a stern, emotionless expression as she stopped in the middle of the captains looking up at Yamamoto expectantly.

He was eyeing her the whole time she was walking and when she stopped and looked up at him he couldn't help but notice the similarity she had with her mother. Her angular chin and big yet stern eyes was what she must had inherited from her father. The shape of her eye was more similar to the mother, but the look and angle she had them set gave him an eerie déjà vu, like he seen them before on someone else. He didn't dwell on it for too long, he had business to deal with.

"Aria Diederich," his booming voice roamed around the room, getting everyone's attention immediately. "Do you know why you've been confined and summoned in today's events?"

"It's about my Zanpakuto, Sukui," her voice was firm and unwavering.

"And where is this Zanpaluto…" before he could finish, two Zanpakuto's appeared on her back making an "X" shape. He stayed silent as he studied her Zanpakuto.

She reached up and grabbed her white Zanpakuto with her left hand. The captains that did not know her tensed, some had their hands on their hilts waiting for her to make the mistake of striking first. She rolled but continued to reach for it, her hand grasping the sheath near the hilt and lifting it up over her shoulder to the front of her body. She held it in both hands examining it like it was the first time she ever saw it. It was a beautiful Zanpakuto, everything was white, the sheath, the hilt, the metal that framed the end of the hilt in an oval shape. The only thing that wasn't white was the blade itself, it was the normal grey hue that every unreleased Zanpakuto sported.

She put it in her right hand, looked at it one last time, and threw it at the head captain who caught it with ease. "You can have it."

Yamamoto caught it with his left hand like it was planned. He brought it to the front of his body and examined it himself. He looked up at her almost like he was waiting for more, for some kind of rebellion from the teen in front of him. She didn't speak as she eyed the old man. "I'm glad you found everything in the better interest of the soul society. I didn't want to waste the life of someone such as yourself, but I have one more question to ask of you." She noticed her tense but he continued nonetheless. "Were you aware of the fact that your mother, Wakana Yuki, was accused of treason and stole this sword away from the soul society and retreating to the world of the living?"

Aria stayed quiet as she thought about what he said. If she told them the truth would he think she committed some kind of treason, too? "Yes," she finally admitted. "I was well aware of the fact."

"And has it ever crossed your mind to right what she wronged."

"Nope," she was extremely blunt.

His eyes opened, no longer slits as he stared down at her. "Are you mad?" she asked, he noticed the slight smile tugging on her lips.

He continued to stare down at her, contemplating her words. "Is there a reason I should be?"

"Yeah, there is."

The sword in his hand began to shimmer, a light enveloping it. He looked down at it with wide eyes as he felt the weight disappear from his grasp. He looked up and saw it appear on her back again. "Are you mad now?"

"What is the meaning of this?" he bellowed.

"Sukui doesn't like to be held by others, he can only… tolerate me. With that said, he doesn't like to leave my side. At least, until I die and he finds a new master, which I wouldn't doubt that is what he wants."

Yamamoto, yet again, continued to stare at her, masking any emotions he was feeling at the moment. "Hm," he finally broke the silence. "No matter what is done that Zanpakuto will not leave your side?"

"Yes, not even if you bind it with kido."

"That's unfortunate. Things would have been simpler."

"So what happens now?"

He studied her, his gaze stern and unmoving. She stared back with a similar expression. She showed no fear or anxiety, either she didn't care that she may lose her life soon – or she was overly confident of her own abilities. His eyes moved to her two swords on her back; the swords were like twins, each curve, stitching, and length were exactly identical. The only thing different was the color. Like Yin and Yang. Light and dark. Salvation and destruction.

"Urahara Kisuke, step forward," his voice called the once former captain. Aria's eyes widen with worry when she turned around and watched Kisuke walk toward her. She looked over at Ichigo and noticed him scowling. He knew what was going to happen. She hated being left out of the loop.

Kisuke stepped next to her, he gave her his usual goofy grin and she just glared at him. What the hell did he do?

"Upon an agreement with Urahara, instead of the death sentence of your refusal, you will be put under constraints, sealing away your ability to use the sword to your own desire. If you somehow break your restraints, you as well as Urahara Kisuke will be sentenced to death."

"WHAT?!" Aria yelled making some jump around her and causing an increase of tension that was already thick in the air. "I'm NOT going to be chained up like some kind of animal!" She was fuming. She didn't care about what little thread she was balancing on from being restrained and executed.

Kisuke put his hand on her shoulder to comfort her, but she shrugged it off glowering over at him when she took a step back. "This was your idea, wasn't it?" she wouldn't allow him to answer or explain himself. "Ever since day one you always wanted to keep me under your control!" she turned around like she was going to leave, but the captains near the entrance stepped in her way. One was Sajin, he stared at her with sympathy and worry.

She glared at all of them, her teeth grinding together. "This was a mistake. I shouldn't have come here, I shouldn't have asked for help…" she was speaking loudly, but it seemed she was only voicing her thoughts. Ichigo stepped into her sight, he also stared at her with sad eyes. She was glaring at the ground, she looked over at his feet when he moved. She knew it was him and her glare only deepened. If she tried anything would he help her? She – didn't want to chance it. She couldn't allow herself.

She turned around, she hung her head in defeat but her hands were still clenched into tight fists. "Fine. I'll do it. Just as long as I get you all off my back."

Some of the tension was released, she could even hear sighs throughout the room. Two people walked over to her, but she didn't dare look up to see who they were.

The next half hour was filled with two people chanting Kido… or whatever binding spell they had in store for her. She didn't care to listen, all she could hear was static. She felt the restraints already pulling on a certain part of her spiritual pressure and closing it off. This was a low hit to her pride. She did in fact feel like a chained up animal, something close to a dog.

"You are free to leave," Yamamoto finally said. She didn't acknowledged him when she turned around to leave. She heard Kisuke call her name, then Ichigo, but she ignored them both. She didn't know which one was worse, death or something close to imprisonment for the rest of her life.

When she was out she continued to walk forward but was stopped when a strong hand gripped her shoulder. "Stop, can you just wait a minute!" Ichigo voice almost fell to deaf ears, but after a second she finally comprehended what he said. She stopped like he said, but she wouldn't allow herself to turn and look at him.

"I didn't have a choice," it was Kisuke now speaking. His voice sound genuinely sad. "After hearing of your situation I came here immediately to speak to the Head Captain. This was the only way to keep you alive."

"I didn't ask for your help," she said rather calmly. Kiskue instantly knew that voice. She was beginning to shut out the world yet again. Her barriers that Ichigo unknowingly broke were now slowly forming again

"You didn't have too. When someone cares about another they'll go to extra lengths to protect that someone. No matter what the consequences are."

"I didn't ask you to care."

"Aria…"

"No," her voice was still eerily calm, but she said the word quick, giving it a sharp tone. "You only assumed. I came back because I thought I could change what was going on around me. After Aizen was imprisoned, I thought I didn't have to hide anymore."

"Dammit Aria, don't you understand what he sacrificed just so he could protect you?!" This time it was Ichigo speaking, his anger clear on his voice. "You're acting like a child! All you are doing is confirming to old man Yamamoto that you don't deserve the power that sword holds. And to tell you the truth, I agree with him based on the way you are acting now. Grow up!"

Kisuke almost slapped his palm to his face when he saw Aria tense up. Ichigo took it too far.

Her hands were turning white from the pressure she was squeezing into them. Then, she let the fists go, the color coming back to them. Her arms slumped down, her eyes turning from the deep hatred glare she was hiding from the two to her normal scowl, and then… relief?

"Your right…" she finally said.

Kisuke fell over, not believing his ears. He let the tears fall from his eyes as he stood back up. "That hurts my feelings you know. You'll listen to him but not me?"

She turned around and gave them a tired look. Behind them was Sajin, Shinji, Hisagi, and Unohana. Her face turned beat red and she quickly turned around to walk away, but Ichigo reached out and grabbed her collar with an annoyed expression. Her feet moved against the ground as she walked but she wasn't moving.

"Please just let me go die under a rock," she groaned.

"Not a chance."

She stopped moving and swatted his hand away, not liking in the least bit how close his hand was to touching her.

She crossed her arms becoming serious again. "Fine, but how the hell did you know of my predicament, Kisuke."

Kisuke pulled out his fan and covered his smiling face with it. "Your bracelet does more than track," his voice held a lot of amusement.

Aria's face grew red, the reddest Ichigo had ever seen displayed on her face. All Ichigo could do was sweat drop as he watched the smoke literally fume out of her ears. "You're a PERVERT Kisuke Urahara!" Before Kisuke had time to react, she kneed him in a very unpleasant spot, and when he recoiled forward his face made contact with her knee again. When he feel backwards she crossed her arms and glowered down at him. "If I find out anything else you forgot to tell me, next time I won't go easy."

Shinji and Hisagi looked at her with wide eyes. "That's her going easy?" Shinji commented, his eyes bulging when she glared up at him.

Unohana watched the scene unfold before her. Once Aria was done speaking she stepped forward to say what she wanted to say awhile back. "Aria," when Aria gave her attention she continued. "You said your Zanpakuto, Sukui, didn't care that you lived or die, am I correct?" When she nodded she continued. "I don't believe that is true." When Aria gave her a quizzical look she elaborated. "When you stabbed yourself in an attempt to pierce your heart from stopping your hollow side, Sukui immaterialized around your heart, now allowing the blade to pierce it. It seems he does care if you live or die if he willingly gave the effort to save you."

Aria looked away from her, her face showing she was deep in thought. When she looked back up she smiled slightly, "I didn't think about that… thank you." Unohana simply nodded and started to walk forward and away from the little circle. Sajin seemed to follow suit, but stopped next to Aria to put his hand on her shoulder and nod. She returned to nod and he continued to walk.

He stayed after to see if she was going to be okay… why?

She was still pissed off that a piece of her had to be sealed away because they were afraid of what she may do with that power, or what others may do if they got ahold of her. She thought it to be stupid if they actually thought that about her, she would have done something long ago if that was her intentions.

Thinking now on how she acted in there… Ichigo was right, she was being immature and childish… and Kisuke was risking his life for her. She couldn't just ignore that.

To tell the truth, she was having a hard time comprehending the behavior of the people she's grown close to. She – wasn't use to the behavior, and she didn't think she would ever get used to it. She was beginning to believe that she was better off alone. At least she didn't have to wrap her mind around all of the confusing things going on around her.

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Aria sat on the almost barren ground with her legs crossed and her eyes close with concentration; her two swords were stabbed into the ground in front of her. Her brow was sweating as she concentrated to clear her mind and listen to any inner voices within herself.

Surprisingly, she heard nothing. Not even that God forsaken hollow side.

Strange.

"Come on…" Shinji whined from the right of her. "We've been sitting here for an hour. What the hell is taking so long?!"

"Shut up! Let me concentrate!" Aria shot back, her eyes constricted and her lips set to a fine ling as she looked over at the blonde with annoyance.

"This is torture," he continued on whining causing Aria's brow to twitch.

Aria was trying to hollowfy. Yes, today was the day she was going to defeat her inner hollow. She had two options: Either defeat her hollow and be free of her burden, or die a horrible death from her hollow consuming her and everyone had to kill her hollowfied self. Yep. She was so ecstatic! Hopefully you realized that was sarcasm.

She was surrounded in a kido box some fat guy with pink hair created. It was unique, something she never saw before.

There were a lot of soul reapers around her, waiting for her to turn. The 'original' party, as Shinji put it, were there, two of them were captains, not including Shinji. Their names were Rojuro Otoribashi, and Kensei Muguruma. Under Kensei was Mashiro Kuna who is a lieutenant next to Hisagi. The rest of the Vizards apparently stay in Karakura town doing whatever it is they do.

And then there was the others that actually volunteered to help out if needed. Those people were: Sajin, Hisagi, Toshiro, Rengi, Rukia, Ikkaku, Yumichika, and Rangiku. Kisuke was there too, he was standing off alone with Ichigo discussing something out of her hearing range. Most she thought were there to just watch and enjoy the show. She definitely knew that Yumichika guy wouldn't get involved.

Shinji was lying on his back and looking up at the sky with boredom. He hated waiting. "How hard can it be to call out your hollow? You made it sound like it pops out whenever it feels like."

"The only time it ever popped out of nowhere was when I use my shikai or got badly injured. If it just popped out randomly I wouldn't be here discussing this with you, smart ass."

"Then use your shikai!"

"Believe me, you don't want me to."

"Come on, you have five captains here, I doubt you're going to hurt anyone with us around." Aria stayed silent. Shinji turned his head over to look at her.

Her head was downcast, her eyes squinting with a troublesome look. Was her shikai really that bad! Shinji wondered.

"Aria," Kisuke called out, his left hand cupped over his mouth like it would carry his voice further. She turned to her left to look at him and Ichigo. "Just use your Shikai, the first one, of course. I'm pretty sure we can handle that one."

"The first one?" Ichigo asked, looking over at Kisuke for answers.

Kisuke had his face covered from his fan. He glanced sideways at Ichigo, all joking aside. "Her black Zanpakuto, Hakai, has two forms. The first one is just raw power, nothing special about it, but the other one…" he paused as he thought back on a memory. "Let's just say that form is a totally different class of Zanpakuto."

"Oh?" Ichigo blinked and then looked back at Aria as he thought about Kisuke's words.

"Come on you big baby!" Kisuke yelled, egging her on. "Stop be a chicken and just do it already."

Aria's head snapped to look at Kisuke, her eyes red with rage. "Fine!" she finally yelled, standing up and grabbing her black Zanpakuto in her right hand. "Just be prepared, unlike last time, in my Shikai form I'll be ten times stronger."

She glanced at everyone as she watched them get up, ready for whatever was going to happen next. "If we… I get out of this alive, don't tell me I didn't warn you."

She breathed in deeply and uttered her shikai release words. "Decimate, Hakai."

Her voice was calm when her Zanpakuto formed into a sword that was thick and had random curvatures throughout the sword. The end near the hilt was skinny, but it curved and almost swirled out making it thicker near the top; the length stayed the same.

She just stood there, looking down at her released Zanpakuto. Everyone stared, waiting for her to turn.

It was quiet.

Too quiet.

"Okaaaay," Shinji drawled and rolled his eyes. "So where's…"

He couldn't finish the sentence when suddenly a white substance sputtered out of her mouth making Aria gage and fall to her knees. Her two-tone voice already heard as she swore to herself. It covered her whole face immediately, no skin could be seen, it was beginning to move down but the lower it went, the slower it grew.

Her head cracked back and forth as she began to yell for whatever reason.

"Shinji…" Hachigen's strained voice called to him. He looked over toward the large, pink haired man seeing he was sweating, straining to keep the kido barrier up.

When he looked back toward Aria, her body was no longer hunched over, she was bent backwards, her mouth wide open as she screamed an inhuman scream into the sky declaring that she was no longer in control. He also noticed Hachigen's kido was fluctuating, he could see the energy she was pouring out, flooding the inside and pushing against the walls.

"Hiyori…" he was trying to call her over to begin fighting Aria… but the kido broke, and out came the hollow energy Aria was secreting.

She was right. Releasing her Shikai made her stronger than ever before.

Aria's body shot up into the air almost like she was trying to escape, but Sajin appeared in front of her, being the first to react to Aria's transformation. She screamed that hollow screech as she swung her sword toward him, he made to block but before her sword could make contact with his, a force that he didn't understand began to push against him and as her sword grew closer, the stronger the force became. His body was flung back, cuts appearing all around him as he crashed to the ground with a growl.

This was different than her last transformation. The hollow that consumed her was fighting on instinct, there was no thought in its attacks.

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A breeze caressed through Aria's tide up hair, slowly swaying back and forth against her back. She slowly opened her eyes already knowing what she was going to see. The surrounding area was barren and black, dark clouds swirled above her in a never ending funnel as lightening lit up the sky soundlessly.

Her inner world use to be a beautiful meadow with bright blue skies and colorful flowers covering the green flooring as far as the eye could see. But now – now because of her misery and sorrow and regret, it only showed ruin, like a blaze surrounded and burned everything and left a blackened, barren in its wake.

"So you finally decided to come?" a shrill, familiar voice asked behind her. She turned around, her eyes landing on a double of herself that was almost completely white. But its eyes gleamed yellow surrounded by a black sea. "So, you finally came to surrender. It's about God damn time. I was getting tired of waiting in this pathetic place. The mood was putting me down." Its smile said otherwise.

Aria lifted up her released Hakai, pointing it at the hollow soul. "You know why I'm here."

She wouldn't allow her hollow to speak any further as she kicked forward and sliced her vibrating sword at the hollow. It brought up its sword to block; when the two blades collided the ground underneath them crumbled around them and a small crater formed underneath their feet. Aria grit her teeth, the two swords almost identical, besides the color, sparked against each other, the shockwave of the first hit already passing.

Her Zanpakuto was unique. Not only did it have two released forms, but both were completely different, not relating in the least to each other. This released form was raw power. It vibrated in her hands, pulsating with power. Every swing created a shockwave, cutting through everything in its path. Her opponents had to fight her from afar because as soon as they get close to her sword the vibrating power it excretes with will cut through anything, almost like its had a barrier of sharp blades surrounding it. The closer they got, the more cut/damage they had to endure.

Her second release… well, she hated it. It was too sadistic for her own liking. Now she only hoped Kisuke had the brains to tell everyone of her power.

For some odd reason, she was sure he forgot.

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After Sajin went down, the hollow turned in the air, bringing its sword across its body, swinging it and creating a giant invisible shockwave that made a very loud booming noise, much like thunder, toward the un-suspecting soul reapers below.

"Get out of the way! Move!" Kisuke yelled as he jumped as far away from the aimed area when he saw her set up for the attack. Everyone did as they were told. When the shockwave hit the ground, large chunks of earth crumbled up and created a cloud of dirt in the surrounding area.

Ichigo covered his face when the dust caught up to him. He landed on the ground and coughed as some dirt crept into his lungs. As the dust began to dissipate, his eyes grew wide at the huge crater where he was originally standing.

And that shikai was supposed to be her weaker one? Dammit. If only he wasn't losing his spiritual energy he would be able to fight Aria's hollow side with only a little trouble. She wasn't as powerful as Aizen.

"Watch out! IT's about to fire a cero!" someone warned.

Behind the dust, almost obscured by it for most, the hollow had its mouth wide open, creating in front of it was a ball of red energy. Before Ichigo could react the hollow let the blast go, all anyone could see was a bright red light barreling toward them, making everything shake around them.

The cero blast came closer and closer to Ichigo, not giving him time to react. He covered his face with his left arm, but knowing deep down that that wouldn't help at all.

Right on cue, Kisuke appeared in front of Ichigo, his own red light flashing from his sword, swinging it into the cero blast stopping it from going any further.

When Ichigo realized he didn't get obliterated, he opened his eyes to see Kisuke standing in front of him. "I owe you one," Ichigo promised.

Kisuke turned to look at Ichigo, but as soon as he took his eyes off the hollow it appeared behind him, its sword in mid-swing. Ichigo's eyes widen, Kisuke noticed and turned in the last second slicing his own sword faster, the crimson blast sliced through the air and across her chest. Blood splattered out as the hollow was thrown back, landing and skidding across the ground.

"What the hell, Kisuke! We're not trying to kill her!" Ichigo yelled, not believing that he saw Kisuke purposely attack and hurt Aria's body.

Kisuke turned to look at Ichigo, smiling, "Did you forget that when you guys are in that hollowfied form, you have instant regeneration powers? Besides, she can't feel it." He turned back around to see the hollow get up, the part where Kisuke sliced through was bubbling and smoothing out, almost like the attack didn't penetrate it. Her shirt was almost torn off. But now they could see her hollow hole slowly forming in the middle of her chest. Once it's complete, she won't be able to turn back. "At least, I don't think she can feel it."

"Kisuke!"

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Aria was in a duel of a lifetime. The swords of the hollow and hers clashed, causing shockwave after shockwave of energy, destroying anything in its way. Aria was cut up in a few places, mistakes she made that the hollow exploited. The thing knew her every move.

Another perfect hit from her swords sent her flying back with a slight grimace. The hollow flipped back and pushed itself against the air using flash step and propelled itself forward, its sword poised for her chest. Aria instantly blocked, both of their swords vibrating against one another making almost like a scratching noise against a chalk board.

"Why don't you just give up!" the hollow questions, its wicked smile growing.

Aria glared at it but didn't say anything.

"What? Cat got your tongue?" It brought its sword down again, over and over again causing Aria to back up and block every attack. Each time it hit the shockwaves would clash against her body, making her grimace as she felt a rib possibly crack from the force. Even though that Zanpakuto belonged to her, its powers hardly affected her, but with continues blows she had to endure, it adds up.

Aria gave almost all her strength to push the hollow away. It jumped back to avoid a swing from her, landing not too far away from her, but didn't lunge forward to continue its assault.

Her legs began to shake. She collapsed on one knee from exhaustion, glaring at the hollow before her. This wasn't working. She had to think of something or she was going to lose the battle.

The hollow began to cackle as it looked upon Aria. "Pitiful. Well… it looks like your time is up."

Aria gave her a questionable look, her eyebrow raised from confusion. Then suddenly, something erupted below her. She tried to jump away but white chains erupted from the ground and wrapping around her in a vice like grip. "What the hell?"

"The transformation is complete."

The chains began to drag her down until she was lying on the ground. More chains tore through the ground, wrapping around and squeezed her so tight she could hardly breathe.

"What do you mean the transformation is complete?" Aria said through clenched teeth as she slowly sucked in air.

"Your body belongs to me now. You completely hollowfied."

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All the soul reapers in the vicinity took turns one after another to attack the hollow. Toshiro tried his best to freeze the hollow in its place in hopes to keep in still for a time being. Five soul reapers were injured, if it kept up more will be hurt and someone may end up losing their life. No. As long as he was there he wasn't going to allow that to happen. As long as he was capable of moving, he will protect anyone in need of protecting. He won't allow what happened to Momo happen to anyone else… He will forever curse Aizen for what he did to her.

His musing stopped when he noticed the aura shift around Aria. The hole in the middle of her chest began to open completely, and when it did her whole body was now transformed, her aura was now completely one with the hollow.

She lost the fight.

Everyone noticed instantly, their eyes shifting from one another.

Ichigo and Kisuke stared up at it, not believing what they were seeing. "No… this can't be happening…" Ichigo whispered, his eyes shaking with guilt and despair. "Aria!" he called out, almost like he was expecting to see the hollow respond to him. Instead, it continued on its assault, blocking and cutting through the air with its Zanpakuto. He looked over at Kisuke, looking for answers but all he saw was him looking down at the ground, eyes wide with hurt and lose.

No.

This couldn't be happening.

Ichigo pushed himself off the ground. He flew into the air near where the hollowfied Aria was standing in the air. When he stopped he noticed that Toshiro had called his Bankai into play. Sajin was nearby looking at Aria solemnly.

"We have no choice," Toshiro said with little emotion. "She's a hollow now, it's our duty to rid of any hollows that are a threat to the soul society and the world of the living."

"What the hell are you talking about!?" Ichigo basically shrieked, looking at all of them like they've gone crazy. "She's still in there fighting. We made a promise to help her through this!"

Sajin's sad eyes moved to Ichigo's. "She made us promise to end her life if she failed. She didn't want you to know because you would object to the idea."

Ichigo couldn't believe what was happening. They were planning on killing her. They were going to kill Aria. Aria whom he promised to help save her from her torment, from her fear of losing to the hollow once and for all. Now… now he was going to break that promise…

Ichigo opened his mouth to object but stopped when he felt someone grab his arms from behind. When he looked he was surprised to see Shinji with his hollow mask on. "What are you doing? Let me go!"

"She also made me promise to hold you back. I'm sorry Ichigo." Others appeared around him. He looked at all of them in disbelief.

This couldn't be happening.

"What the hell is wrong with everyone!?"

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Aria pushed with all her might to get up, but she was failing miserably. The hollow laughed at her pathetic attempt to stand. "So," it began, its voice slithering around her making her cringe. "How does it feel to be held down by the chains of fate? Just except it, you're a hollow now. You can't break through those chains, no matter what."

It took everything she had to turn her head and glare at the hollow who was towering over her now. "Of course, I wouldn't mind seeing you strapped here for the rest of eternity, but I find your face extremely annoying," It brought its sword up over her chest and smiled sadistically. "Buh-bye now, nice knowing you."

The blade pierced though her chest and into the ground below her.

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All of the captains and remaining soul reapers that wasn't keeping Ichigo at bay were now attacking the hollow. It screeched through the air as it avoid attacks and assaulted anything that caught its eyes. They were making more blows to it than it was to them.

"Let me go!" Ichigo growled as he strained to get away from everyone that held him.

"Ichigo," Shinji tried to reason. "It's over, there's nothing we can do now. Aria isn't in there anymore. Can't you see that?!"

"God dammit Ichigo," Hiyori growled as she had a firm grip around Ichigo's waste. "Stop being an idiot and open your eyes! She's done for!"

"No!" Ichigo continued to push and pull his way to freedom but was failing miserably. Damn his energy lose. "She's still in there, I can feel it! Let me go!"

"And what are you going to do when you get to her? She's only going to attack you. If she is in there she won't be able to hear you!" Shinji added.

This made Ichigo falter, hesitate from breaking free. "I have to try," his voice was low and stern. "It's better than standing around and doing nothing. I made a promise and I plan on keeping it. Now, let me go!"

"I'm sorry Ichigo, even if that was true you are no match for her in your current state."

A scream was heard from the hollow, a different one than from when it attacks. Everyone looked up and saw the hollow front spraying with blood as it began to fall to the ground.

Ichigo's eyes were wide with shock, as was everyone else's. When her body hit the ground with a loud thud Ichigo screamed her name. Then…

"Bankai!" That caught everyone by surprise when he pushed them back with his energy and launched forward toward Aria's body. Once there he kneeled over her as she laid on her back almost lifeless like.

"Aria!"

The hollow opened its eyes, gleaming up at Ichigo as the wounds on its stomach began to regenerate. It lashed out at him, tearing the front of his outfit but narrowly missed his flesh when he flung himself backwards.

"Ichigo!" Numerous voices called out his name.

The hollow stood up and looked over toward Ichigo with its sword in hand.

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"Aria!" Aria heard Ichigo calling her name. She opened her eyes and looked for him, but she could feel her vision blurring.

She was done for. Nearing death was making her hear things.

"You're still alive!" The hollow laughed. "Well, let's fix that" It brought its sword up to pierce her one last time.

"ARIA!" this time it was loud, like he was yelling in her ear.

'Ichigo… he's calling for me…' Aria weakly thought. She began to think back to the hill where she became friends with Ichigo, where he promised to help her. To see through it till the end.

'Ichigo… Ichigo… Ich…' She opened her eyes again. In front of her was a flower. A single yellow flower growing from the ashen dirt. When she heard her name again, another one began to grow.

Hope.

It was hope!

Ichigo was giving her hope! She couldn't give up! Not now, not ever!

She pushed herself off the ground, the chains tightening to keep her down, but she only pushed harder with her new found strength. She brought her hand up and caught the sword that was aimed to pierce her chest once again.

"What the hell!" The hollow sounded completely surprised. "How the hell are you still moving?!" It roared.

She was now in an almost standing position. She looked up at the hollow and smiled. "Because…" she gasped out, her voice sounding raspier than normal. "I have hope." She looked down at the two lone flowers and smiled. "And I also have a friend who would kick my ass if I failed."

The chains broke free as she yanked the sword out of the hollow's hands, turned it quickly and plunged it into its stomach. It keeled over, looking up at Aria with wide, bewildered eyes. When it sunk to the ground, she did the same. She looked at the hollow straight in the eyes. For the first time ever she saw her hollow side look at her with defeat and anger.

"This isn't over," it began as it started to disappear. "I'll be back, I'll take over when you become weak again, when your soul shatters. I'll be…" before it could finish it completely disappeared, the sword falling to the ground.

Aria sat on her knees and looked up toward the sky to see the storm began to disappear, showing her a dark blue sky. She smiled, closing her eyes as she felt the breeze pass by her. It smelled different this time, but she didn't know why. "Well… it's a start."

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Ichigo watched as the hollow slowly walked to where he sat. He could hear others yelling for him but he couldn't hear a single word they were saying. He watched as the hollow made its way in slow motion, its sword rising at its side.

Suddenly, the hollow stopped a couple of feet away. Ichigo heard something hit the ground. When he looked down he saw it was her sword, turning back into a normal katana.

It feel to the ground, knees hitting dirt with a loud thud. Ichigo looked up and watched the mask material around her head crack and break apart, revealing Aria's closed eyed face. She began to fall to her right in which Ichigo hurried over and let her body slump against his with her head in his chest. The rest of her mask like material broke apart and vanished from her body revealing her slightly pale skin.

Ichigo could cry right then if he could as he looked down at her with a large smile, relief flooding him. Slowly, her eyes began to open. She blinked a couple of times and looked up at Ichigo, blinked some more, and smiled one of her rare genuine smiles.

"You did it," Ichigo breathed out a sigh of relief, his smile never leaving his face.

"Yeah… thanks to you." She closed her eyes and sighed. "Right when I thought it was over I heard you call my name. Then I remembered the promise we made together." She lightly chuckled as she thought about it. "I couldn't break that promise…"

Ichigo smiled grew… then… his face turned completely red, his eyes bugging out of his head when he realized Aria was lying against him with no shirt on. Thankfully, she was turned to the side and her arm was covering her breasts, but the idea of it made him grow even redder.

A green cloak was laid across her body, Ichigo looked up to see Kisuke kneeling over them with a smile. They both looked down at her now sleeping form.


	10. Chapter Ten: Unexpected Events

Careless Wonder

Chapter Ten: Unexpected Events

Walking through the streets of Karakura town, the stars seemed brighter then normal, illuminating the sidewalk for the two walking friends; Ichigo looked over at his companion. To his surprise, she was smiling. And no, not one of her small forced smiles she gives everyone else, but a smile that made her cheeks slightly rosy, and seemed to brighten up her eyes.

"What are you smiling about?"

Aria glanced over toward Ichigo to see him staring at her with a raised eyebrow, hands behind his head almost like he was stretching. "I was just thinking about Ikkaku, how disappointed he seemed when I denied him a duel."

"All the guy thinks about is fighting." He paused and glanced at her again before staring forward. "How's your arm and leg?"

Already knowing what he was talking about, she reached up automatically and rubbed her shoulder. "Still stiff, but when I… turned, the wounds instantly healed up. Probably the only thing good about what happened." Thinking back to when the hollows jaws bit into her causing her to turn, it made her shiver. "To tell you the truth, if I didn't change I wouldn't be here right now."

Ichigo agreed. "You know you can still lose control. I still lose control myself once in a while." Aria nodded, already having this conversation with him.

"Once I leave I won't have to worry about losing control. My shikai is more than capable of taking anything on that decides to go after me. I doubt I'll be hurt enough, or emotionally drawn, to hollowfy."

"Why do you have to go? Can't you just stay here, Yuzu would miss you. She's already attached to you. Besides, where else do you have to go? Weren't you just travelling around, letting the wind take you to where it blows, as you put it."

Aria stayed quiet. He was right to a certain extent. But does she even want to go?

Ichigo looked over to her again to see why she was hesitating, but found a sly smile on her face as she wiggled her eyebrows at him. "You're just saying that because you'll miss me. Admit it pansy, you'll cry if I leave."

Ichigo face turned red, he glowered at the supposed red head to his right. "I never said that! And who you calling a Pansy? I thought I was a dumbass?!"

"So you admit to being a dumbass."

"I didn't say it like that, either! I only said it because you always insult me using that stupid nickname, or whatever you want to call it."

"I think I like pansy better, it suits you."

"How the hell does that suit me?"

"Pansy ass."

Aria snickered as she watched Ichigo fumed and flustered next to her. "How about this," she quickened her pace until she was a couple of feet in front of him where she turned around to give him her full attention. He stopped, crossing his arms with a scowl. "If you admit that you love me I might consider staying." She laughed as Ichigo's face turned a red, almost purple color. She turned and lightly ran back toward his home. She could hear him saying agitated words, not making sense in the least bit.

Still, she wasn't planning on staying… she couldn't.

"Ichi! Aria! Your home!" Yuzu came bounding out of the kitchen and ran up to Aria to give her a hug. Feeling a bit overwhelmed but the sudden contact, she patted the girl slightly on the back and nudged her away.

"Nice to see you too, Yuzu."

Ichigo walked forward and tousled Yuzu's hair as he passed. He turned back around and smiled warmly to his little sister. "Something smells good, what's for dinner, Yuzu?"

Yuzu leaped over to her brother, grabbing his hand and dragging him into the kitchen. Aria smiled as she watched Ichigo still smile at his sisters constant pulling. Before he disappeared, he look back at Aria to see her smiling warmly herself. When she caught his eye, she forced the smile to go away.

"How's it going, Aria? " Aria looked over to see Karin sitting on the couch in front of the TV. She was leaning on the back her elbows sitting on top of the couch and her chin, with the remote in her hand. "Did my idiot brother treat you alright?"

"Besides his constant whining, he was tolerable and nice when needed." Karin smiled, watching Aria walk in and turn toward the kitchen to see Yuzu shoving a spoon in her brothers' mouth.

"So where did you go anyway?" Karen asked. Aria turned around to look at her and shrugged.

"Soul Society."

Karin blinked a couple of times, taken by complete surprise by her blunt yet truthful words. Usually Ichigo would try to lie around it or try to change the subject when it had anything to do with the supernatural. But Aria was different. Maybe she knew that she could see things, too. Did Ichigo tell her, or was it that obvious?

"Is there anything wrong, Karin?" Karin snapped her attention back to Aria realizing she was staring off into space.

"Uh, yeah, I'm fine." She got up from the couch and walked past Aria to get to the kitchen. Aria followed right behind her. "So what's for dinner, Yuzu?"

Yuzu turned around from stirring the pot and smiled her genuine, happy smile. "Homemade chicken noodle soup."

"Does it have carrots?" Aria asked out of the blue.

Yuzu nodded. "Yeah, why do you ask, Aria?"

Aria scratched her head and looked away from her like she was embarrassed. "I'm not a big carrot fan… I'll just fish them out when I get my bowl." She winked at her.

"Why don't you like carrots? Carrots are good for you, they're good for your eyesight!"

She looked up at Ichigo, a smile tugging at the side of her lip. "I don't like their color."

Yuzu thought about it, staring blankly at her. "You don't like the color orange."

"Yep."

"Hey!" Ichigo growled, crossing his arms as he scowled toward Aria. "What's that supposed to mean? If ya haven't forgot, my hair is orange, too." Aria glanced up to his hair.

"Yes… yes it is…" pause. "That's one more thing I don't like about you."

"Hey! You know that's not nice, you should keep those things to yourself so you don't hurt others feelings!" Wow, he sounded like a little kid, (sometimes he does this in the anime, so I added it here, haha).

"I hurt your feelings?"

"Of course not." He crossed his arms and turned away from her.

"I was just playing with you, Ichigo. I don't mind the color orange, I just don't like the taste of carrots."

Ichigo opened his mouth to comment back but suddenly something came flying toward his face yelling, "IIIIIIIICHIGOOOOOOO!" where the hell did he come from? Ichigo ducked out of the way with a growl, watching his father smash into the cabinets. "Yow, ow, ow, ow, ow!"

"When will you stop being so immature? Those tricks don't work on me old man."

Ishin stood up, dusting off the invisible dust. He turned around and noticed Aria in the room, his eyes growing wide with… Aria couldn't tell what he was doing. He's eyes were watering like he was actually going to cry over something. But before Aria had time to react, large arms engulfed her lifting her up off the ground in a bone crushing hug.

"My fourth daughter finally returned! I've missed you so much," he sniffled, then continued. "I thought something bad happened to you!" Aria wiggled her legs around, trying to free herself from his grasp. Without much success, she decided a different approach. She head butted him. Isshin stumbled back, clutching his head as tears ran down his face. "Life is so cruel…" he turned around and began to do the jig in front of the poster of his wife. Over the week she's been there, he seemed to do that at least once a day. Of course, she didn't know what he was doing to the poster. Sometimes she thinks he's humping it. "Why… why!" she couldn't hear the rest he said as she tuned him out and sighed to herself.

"You're an idiot," Ichigo directed the insult to his father.

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When dinner was served, they all sat at the table and conversed. Yuzu was proud to announce that she got the lead role in her play and begged her brother to go see her next month. Ichigo agreed, hoping that nothing unexpected came up. Knowing his luck, he doubted it.

He looked over at Aria, noticing she hadn't talked for the last ten minutes. Of course, Aria wasn't a very talkative person to begin with, but the way she swirled her spoon through her half empty bowl in a daze had him concerned.

"Is everything okay, Aria?"

She blinked a couple of times, coming back from her daydream or whatever it is was that was running through her head, and looked up at him. "Oh, it's nothing." She turned her head to look at his father and his two sisters and sighed. She cleared her throat to get everyone's attention. When they all looked at her, she picked up a spoon full of soup and looked down at the contents. "I'm going back to Germany tomorrow." She shoved the spoon full in her mouth.

"What!?" Everyone exclaimed at once, excluding Ichigo. He looked down at her, his eyes only showing worry, and a bit hurt that she was just going to leave just like that. Did she plan on visiting? He had a gut feeling that she wasn't the type to visit unless it was something important.

"But," Yuzu began, tears brimming the corner of her eyes. "But you just got here! You can't leave now!" Aria didn't look up at her but responded nonetheless.

"I have to, I can't stay here any longer. I'm… needed elsewhere." For some odd reason Ichigo knew she was lying.

"But… but…" the tears began to fall from her face. Aria finally looked up to see the tears roll down her face and grimaced.

"Please don't cry, Yuzu. I'm not going to be gone forever." She forced a smile to her lips. "I promise I'll come back." The promise was empty, devoid of the truth.

"Y-you promise?" Aria nodded and received a small smile from the young girl. Karin began to rub her back, telling her soothing words to calm her down. Isshin, on the other hand, was just staring down at his food, he was suddenly serious which wasn't like him. Ichigo thought for certain that he would be balling, too.

"Are you sure you want to go?" he asked, his eyes finally meeting hers. She nodded and he sighed.

"I don't want to be a burden anymore. I hate moochin…"

"Nonsense," he cut her off. "You'll never be a burden. Believe it or not we do care for you deeply." He looked over at his son. "Isn't that right, Ichigo?!"

Ichigo blinked, his face turning red. "Wha-what! Care deeply? - No… I mean yes but – I, uh…"

Yuzu laughed at Ichigo's flustered state. He let the air out of his lungs, trying to calm his burning cheeks. Once his face was his normal peachy color, he peeked over toward Aria. She was smiling at Yuzu, he could see the light glint in her eyes as she watched her fondly. Even if she's only been there for a week, they already consider her part of the family. They must have assumed, since she doesn't have any parents or siblings, they could fill in that void. It seemed that Yuzu thought that very same thing. She thought she was going to stay with them for a while.

Then out of nowhere Aria shot up into a standing position, her eyes wide and wild; her breath hitched in her throat.

Ichigo got up too, looking at aria with wide concern. "What? What is it? What's wrong?"

Suddenly, Isshin stood up too, his expression mimicking Aria's. "No. It can't be." His eyes feel on Aria's when he muttered those words.

She took off. She pushed off the table and ran for the door, not even bothering to put her shoes on.

"Ichigo." Isshin said a silent order. The way he said his name was enough.

"I know." Ichigo followed after her, grabbing his shoes on his way out.

She wasn't too far ahead of him, but she was quickly pulling away. "Aria, hang on!" his yell fell to deaf ears. She was too concentrated on hurrying to her destination. Then, she stopped. Her head whipping around as her eyes scanned the area.

Ichigo ran next to her, taking in huge breaths of air. "What's going on?"

"I felt her spiritual pressure…"

"Who's?" Ichigo's concern grew as he watched his friends' frantic eyes scan the area around them.

"My mom. She was here, I'm sure of it."

Ichigo faltered, surprise lit up his face as he stared at Aria.

"Dammit," she swore, her anger growing. "What the hell was that? I know I felt her energy, I just know it." She turned and finally gave Ichigo her attention. "Did you feel anything?" Ichigo hesitated before nodding.

"Yay, I felt something too, and I'm pretty sure my old man did as well."

She scoffed and kick at the ground as she thought over everything. "Dammit!" She finally yelled, giving one last look at her surroundings and turned back to Ichigo with her hands in the hoodie pockets and hunched-walk toward him and home

"Nie wusste, dass du so viel schwor Aria? Was geschah mit diesem süßen kleinen Mädchen, das ich erinnerte?" A strange male voice said behind them.

Aria stopped, her eyes wider than anything Ichigo had ever seen her express. Her movements were slow when she turned around, her eyes practically bulging out of their sockets. Ichigo looked as well, his eyes were in slits as he stared the man down. He – looked like a normal human being. His hair was black and in a low pony tail that reached just a little above his shoulders, brown eyes, and a rounded oval shaped face with a smirk adorning it. His attire only consisted of blue jeans, white sneakers, a black shirt that hung a little below the waste, and a blue and white jacket to top it all off. Normal, human clothes.

"What are you doing here?" Aria said in Japanese. Ichigo wondered if she knew… German – yeah, that was the language he was talking… Wait, didn't she say she was going back to Germany?

"Japanesse? Ich bin nicht fließend in dieser Sprache. Wohlgemerkt Deutsch sprechen?" He was smugly smirking, something that irked Ichigo.

He leaned toward Aria and covered his mouth to whisper. "Who the hell is this? Should I be worried?"

"My… uncle," she said it out loud not caring if the other man heard. "But to answer your second question, I dunno yet. He still hasn't told me why he's here." She directed her next words to the man. "Do you think I'm stupid? If you knew that I was swearing before popping up, then I'm pretty sure you know some Japanese… dick."

He frowned staring down at the young girl. Then he finally smiled. "You caught me. I was hoping to have this conversation between the two of us, but," he glanced over at Ichigo. "It seems you think otherwise."

"Why are you here?"

He frowned, but Ichigo still saw the glint of humor in his eyes. "Is that anyway to speak to an old friend, your uncle? I'm disappointed, I thought your mother taught you better."

"Don't you dare talk about her you jackass. Now answer than damn question before I beat it out of you!" She almost roared, Ichigo could see she was trying to restrain herself as best as she could.

Now he was truly frowning. "I'm here to get you, of course. I just found out a week ago where you were at. I've been looking for you for the past couple of years."

"You're lying."

"Aria, I'm telling you the truth. Why would I lie? I've known you since the day you've been born. After I heard about what happened I came looking for you, but you were already gone."

"LIER!" She roared. Her hands were shaking at her sides. "Don't you dare lie to me, I remember everything that day when Aizen ruined my life! If you were so concerned then why were you there with Aizen!"

Ichigo tensed when he heard her last sentence. He turned his attention back to the man and glared. He was frowning, he saw something flash through the man's eyes and he cracked a smile.

"Very perceptive. Didn't think you could sense me back then, apparently I was wrong." He closed his eyes and shrugged, being very nonchalant about it. "I told them this wasn't a good idea. It would have been better if she came."

"If who came?" her patience was running thin. He looked back up at her with that sparkle in his eye again.

"Your mother, of course. She's still alive. After Urahara retrieved you I saved your mother, unfortunately your 'father' was already dead. He died instantly."

Ichigo's surprise was evident on his face. He couldn't believe what he was hearing, but if he was this shocked then… when he looked over at Aria, her mouth was agape, and her eyes quivering as emotions passed through them; when he looked down, her legs were slightly shaking.

"I didn't want to be there, I didn't want what happened to you to happen, but I had no choice. There's no way I could refuse that man. I was planning on retrieving you once you changed back, but Urahara beat me to you." He noticed Aria close her eyes. She took a deep breath of air and let it out slowly. When she opened her eyes once more, she was glaring, he could feel the hatred radiating off of her.

"Kisuke checked to see if she was alive, and he said no. I believe his word over yours." She turned around. "If she was truly alive then why didn't she come to see me instead of you?"

"She was afraid you would be too shocked and lash out."

"Well, since I'm pretty sure nothing could surprise me now, then she should come see me. There's no way in hell I'm going with you. You were with Aizen that night, why the hell should I trust you when you have nothing backing up your words." She began to walk, not bothering to look back. "Leave now before I suddenly get the urge to kill you for what you've done."

Ichigo took one last glance at the man who was continuing to frown as he watched Aria walk away. He turned and followed her, tensing up in preparation if he tried anything.

He began to chuckle. Aria stopped and Ichigo turned back around to look at the chuckling man, glaring all the while. "Aria, Aria, Aria," he tsked. "I was really hoping you wouldn't make this difficult, but apparently you're just a difficult child. You've always have been."

Aria whipped around, her swords appearing on her back but he had already disappeared. Both the teens looked around, waiting for him to appear. Suddenly, Aria sharply turned around while grabbing her black sword and swung behind her. The man easily clashed his own sword against her. She flung her body back to put some distance between the two.

Ichigo was already out of his body, clutching his substitute soul reaper badge to his chest and putting it away when he didn't need it anymore. He took a step forward but stopped when Aria glared at him, her teeth practically bared.

"Don't get involved Ichigo, this isn't your fight!" she stepped away from the man's sword, dodging and swung for her own attack. Back and forth they fought, dodging and attacking.

Ichigo gritted his teeth as he watched the two duke it out. He hated being on the sidelines. "I'm not going to let you fight on your own!" he took another step forward but heard Aria growl at his approach.

"You'll only get in the way," she blocked, gritting her teeth with anger. "If you want to be useful, go get your father."

That was a low blow, and Aria knew that, but she couldn't allow him to use up any more energy.

"Like hell I am," Ichigo shot back causing Aria to roll her eyes. He was so stubborn!

When he ran over to where they were fighting, someone else appeared in front of him. A female. Her green eyes bore into his and she smiled smugly. Much like that guy Aria called her Uncle, she had normal human attire on as well, but with a Zanpakuto strapped to her side. She reached up and tucked the stray strands of her tied up blonde hair behind her ear and gave him a once over. She was probably in her mid-twenties.

"You're cute." She drew her sword and swung forward. Ichigo brought his sword up and blocked.

"Who the hell are you?"

"My names Jade, and what's yours handsome?" They both jumped away from each other. Ichigo glanced to see Aria still defending herself, but he also noticed a cut on her right shoulder with a little blood soaking her hoodie.

"Dammit, I don't have time for you. What the hell do you want?" His anger was growing. He was considering using his Bankai to get both of them out of the situation quicker, but since the last time he used Bankai, he could feel the effects of losing his spiritual pressure more so than usual.

"We've been ordered to bring in Aria with any means necessary. If she wasn't so stubborn and careful, we wouldn't be fighting right now." She smiled and winked. "But I don't mind fighting you. It gives me something nice to look at." She lunged forward, commencing her out fight with Ichigo.

Aria looked down to see Ichigo dueling someone as well. She ground her teeth together, hating the fact that he was being more stubborn than her. She looked back up to see her uncle, Roy, chuckling at her worry for her friend.

"For someone being on their own for almost six years, you're fighting skills have really shaped up. Your fighting style is random, it's hard for me to find a pattern."

"That's not the only thing I've learned on my own." She launched forward, a green light emitting from her feet making her able to move faster.

Ichigo instantly saw the green spark appear around her feet when she launched forward…

Sword clashing against sword was heard. Roy was giving Aria a hard time, it seemed he was moving faster and his strength increasing by the second. Finally, both Aria and Ichigo were back to back, facing their opponents.

"I'll make you a deal, Aria," Roy smiled with a gleam in his eyes as he looked towards Ichigo's turned head. "I'll let your friend go if you come with me quietly. If not, I'll kill him."

Ichigo saw her tense, her hands gripping her sword tighter. "Don't you dare think about it Aria, I'll still fight for you no matter what you decide."

"You're a dumbass," she mumbled. Ichigo smiled at her remark. "We'll pass, thank you very much."

"So, what are you going to do now? You can't use your Shikai without destroying the buildings around you. You have nothing." He sounded so confident. That made Aria smile.

"I have one more trick up my sleeve." She reached up to her face and ripped her hand down, her fingers tearing a black mass that formed a mask.

Her mask was the regular ogre design with blue underneath her eyes like bags from sleepless nights. Protruding from her head were large ram horns that curled up and half way over her head.

Roy's eyes grew wide when he saw her hollow mask. Without notice, she appeared in front of him and swung her sword down the length of his torso and disappeared again. She appeared next to the women named Jade, her fist made contact with the temple of her head, sending her flying back and through the brick wall next to them. Then, her mask broke. "Five seconds," she muttered.

Roy sputtered a little blood, clutching his chest and stared at Aria. He smiled. "I'll have to admit I wasn't prepared for that." He stood back up from crouching down on his knees to his feet. "Looks like I'm going to have to try."

He brought his sword up causing Aria and Ichigo to tense. He was going to release his Zanpakuto.

But when he opened his mouth he instantly closed it, glaring behind the two teens. They looked behind them to see the cocky grin of Isshin Kurosaki. He was wearing his soul reaper outfit, with his own unique features of course, and his sword gripped in his right hand.

"Roy! I can't believe it's you!?" Isshin said all friendly like. "What's going on? Having a reunion without me?" Even though he was smiling and his voice was friendly, his eyes bore into Roy's telling him to back off.

Off to the left a girl emerged from rubble, clutching her bloody head. She looked up to see Isshin and she grimaced. "Roy," she called out. "We don't have a choice. We need to leave. Now."

"Damn," he muttered. Then he looked at Aria with a smile. "Looks like we'll going to have to do this another day, sweety."

"There won't be a next time," Isshin said with certainty. "The next time I feel your presence, I'll come after you myself and I won't hold back to end your life."

Roy still smiled before shrugging his shoulders and reached into his shirt. You pulled out a round object as big as an apple and threw it behind him making it shatter. Slowly, a blue funnel like portal appeared behind him. Jade was instantly at his side stepping in first. When Roy was in halfway he turned back to look at Aria one last time.

"Oh, and Aria, I wouldn't leave Karakura town if you know what's good for the family you're staying with." Isshin launched forward, but before he reached Roy, the portal thing closed, making Isshin jump into a now empty spot in the street. He cursed under his breath, glaring at the spot Roy was originally at. Then, he reached up and scratched the back of his head before turning to the two teens. Ichigo was looking back and forth from Isshin and Aria's turned back.

"Does anyone want to clue me in on what the hell just happened? Who is that guy and what the hell does he want with Aria!?"

Isshin watched Aria to see if she would respond but she didn't budge from her spot. He sighed and decided he was the one who had to explain things. "He's an old friend, a rouge soul reaper. He came back from soul society with Aria's mother. From what Urahara told me, he betrayed her family and lead Aizen to them. But now he's back. For what reason, I don't know, but he definitely wants Aria for something."

Both Isshin and Ichigo looked back toward Aria's unmoving body. Isshin was the first to walk over to her, placing his hand on her shoulder for comfort. Her head snapped up and looked over shoulder to see him. She was frowning, her face strained. She looked back ahead of her and said, "I'm sorry."

Isshin blinked a couple of times. "Sorry?"

"I'm sorry for putting your family in danger…"

They stayed quiet. Isshin kept his eyes trained on the back of her head. Finally, he placed both of his hands on her shoulders and spun her around. Before she could even look at him he slapped her. She clutched her right cheek and looked at him stunned. Then he hit her other cheek.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE SORRY!?" He continued to smack Aria, snapping her head back and forth. "YOU'RE PART OF THIS FAMILY TOO! IF I GOT MAD EVERY SINGE TIME ICHIGO BROUGHT HOME TROUBLE HE'S BE DEAD BY NOW! WHEN SOMEONE CARES THEY PROTECT THE ONE THEY CARE FOR AND HELP THEM GET PAST THEIR TROUBLE! YOU'RE A PART…"

Her fist smacked into the side of his head making him fly back and into the wall. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING!? MY CHEEKS HURTS LIKE HELL NOW."

Isshin got up quickly rubbing his cheek and stopping over to Aria. "IF YOU WEREN'T SUCH AN IDIOT I WOULDN'T HAVE TO SMACK SOME SENSE INTO YOU!"

"YOU DIDN'T HAVE TO GO THAT FAR, ONE SMACK WOULD HAD DONE IT!" She smashed her fist into his face again, sinking in and making him spin backwards and skid against the concrete. "NOW I KNOW WHERE ICHIGO GETS HIS STUPIDITY!"

The whole time they argued, Ichigo watched with a huge sweat drop sliding down the side of his face with constricted annoyed eyes following their every move.

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A door slide open revealing a room full of test tubes, vials with bubbling concoctions, and hollow body parts with wires sticking out of them inside large tubes full of water scattered across the wall. Footsteps echoed throughout the room, toward a person hidden in the shadow working at a table full of smaller vials.

Once the footsteps stopped behind the shadow, it smiled. "So everything went according to plans, I assume." A women voice purred with satisfaction.

Roy smiled with amusement.

"Of course. Everything went exactly how you planned it, even Isshin got himself involved just like you predicted."

"Perfect." The shadow women smiled, tapping her finger to her chin. "Everything is falling into place."


	11. Chapter Eleven: Populae

Careless Wonder

Chapter Eleven: Popular

A hand, curled into a fist, slammed onto the alarm clock in an attempt to stop the blaring noise it was producing. Luckily for him, it shut up after the first strike. The orange haired teen rolled on his back and yawned loudly, his arms stretching above him and then landing over his head to relax. His groggy eyes blinked up at the ceiling, letting another yawn escape his lips.

"I'M NOT WEARING A SKIRT YOU PERVERT!" Aria screamed in the hallway causing Ichigo to sit up quickly in his bed in alarm.

"If you're going to stay under my roof, YOUR GOING TO SCHOOL AND SCHOOL REQUIRES YOU TO – UMPPPHH," His father yelled, but was stopped short when he heard something slapping against skin and then another hitting the wall with a loud thump.

Ichigo smacked his hand to his face. For the last two days they've been at each other's throats about the whole school business. It had been grating on his nerves. He pulled the blankets off him and swung his legs over the bed, standing up and strolling over to his door. Once open, he stared at the scene laid before him. His father was against the wall a little to his left rubbing the back of his head and had a very prominent foot mark on his cheek. To his right was a fuming Aria who was glaring a hole through the skirt she hand in her hands. She pulled on the slightly elastic band and shifted her eyes back toward his father.

"And how the hell did you know my waist size you pervert!" She accused the old man, her face red with either fury or embarrassment. It was probably both combined.

"Lucky guess!" His father said a little too chirpily for the current situation. In return, he had the skirt thrown on his face.

Ichigo looked back at Aria to see her hand on her forehead, shaking it back and forth. His eyes moved from her face to her attire. She was wearing blue, loose sweat pants that hung loosely around her hips, which made him blush profusely, and a tank top that showed off her curves and her round… he turned sharply on his heel, back into his bedroom, and then slamming the door behind him.

"Will you just get off my back about it?" Aria's annoyed voice carried through the door he was leaning on.

"Never! I will never give up! I'll make you go to school one way or another!" Silence soon followed after his little burst.

"Fine!" Aria groaned out. "I'll go."

"Yes! I knew you would agree eventually!"

He heard the air leave her mouth as she huffed loudly. "Whatever. I'm only doing it because I'm bored. The TV can only sate me for about an hour anyways before I'm bored to death." He heard footsteps and a loud knock on his door. "Ichigo. I know you're by the door. When I attend school," she said in disgust. "I don't want you to acknowledge me… ever. You don't know me, got it! And if you do I'll beat the living daylights out of you."

"Whatever."

"Good." She stomped away and heard her slam her door.

"You'll need your school uniform to go to school!" His father called out.

"Whatever!" he heard her muffled voice.

Ichigo, yet again, slapped his hand to his face. Couldn't there be one normal passing day in this house?

He could only wish.

Throughout breakfast Aria stayed upstairs. When his father called up to her she said she was going to be late. As he ate, he heard footsteps and something opening and closing upstairs as she rummaged through things rather, and annoyingly, loudly.

He had a feeling today was going to be crazy.

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Ichigo slung his book bag over his shoulder and waved goodbye to his sisters as they parted ways to their separate schools. Aria still hadn't come down from her rummaging up stairs, so he just left her to his own father's dismay. He wasn't going to be late for school because of her.

His walk to school was normal, thank God, but on his way he didn't run into Asano anywhere like he normally would. Even when he arrived to his homeroom, all of his friends shared, he wasn't sitting in his seat. Even Mizuiro had no idea where he could have gone. Stranger yet, Tatsuki and Orihime weren't at school, either. He hoped they were sick and nothing bad happened to them.

The school bell rang and the teacher waited for the class to calm down before she made her announcement. She lifted a piece of paper to her face and squinted, her nose wrinkling up like it would help her see the writing more clearly. "Looks like we have a new student from Germany joining us today!" She sounded excited, he wondered who the new kid was… why did she say she was from Germany? Way to draw attention to herself, even though that part may be true other students were bound to ask her to say something in German. He wouldn't save her from her awkward social skills since she didn't want anything to do with him while at school. Whatever. She deserved it.

Before the teacher continue her eyes shot up to the back of the room. "Ah, nice of you three to join us." Ichigo turned around and was relieved to see his friends standing in the door way. Asano had his hand scratching the back of his head from embarrassment, Orihimie had her hands clasped in front of her with a slight blush, and Tatsuki had her hand on her hip.

"Sorry," Tatsuki spoke on the behalf of the three. "We got hung up in… reuniting with old friends."

Ichigo turned back around when he saw them make way to their seats. Next to him, Asano sat down and smiled sheepishly his way. He rolled his eyes.

"I'll let it slide this once but I won't be so lenient next time… Ah, looks like our new student is here!" Everyone turned around to see what the new student looked like, including himself, even though he already knew who he was going to see.

Ichigo fell over in his chair.

Standing in the doorway was a very annoyed Aria… but… she was wearing Ichigo's school uniform - and was sporting a shaggy blonde haired wig that just barely passed her ears and partially covered her eyes. She had a book bag slung over her shoulder as she scanned the room, her eyes instantly landing on him where she gave a silent glare.

The clothes were too big for her, he noticed, but it wasn't too noticeable. She also wore the school uniform jacket which he suspected she kept on to cover up her…

She was cross-dressing as a boy at his school, and she stole his clothes!

Ichigo sat there and gapped at her, his chin hitting the desk below him. "Good morning…" the teacher looked down at her paper and smiled. "Mr. Diederich. Blake Diederich."

She nodded in return, not bothering to speak. Ichigo wondered, somehow through his mass confusion going on through his head, how she was going to cover up her girly voice.

"Well, since I know you'll be asked a lot of question regardless if I force you to introduce yourself in front of the class or not, we'll just pass the little introduction and get on with my lecture." She gestured to the back of the room near the windows. "Please, take a seat, and I hope you have a wonderful time here in Japan." She sounded too happy.

Aria casually walked to her desk while receiving stares from everyone in the class, mostly the girls. "He's cute," someone whispered. "He's from Germany, I wonder if he's fluent in Japanese,", "Look at those eyes, there so blue!", "Oh my gosh! Eye candy!"

Ichigo's eye twitched uncontrollably at the comments. When he turned around in his seat to face forward once more he noticed Asano staring intently at her… was that why the three were late because of something Aria did? He had a gut feeling that that was the case.

He didn't ponder on it too long when the teacher cleared her throat to get everyone's attention. She began to lecture, everyone almost instantly forgetting about the new student. Throughout class he would occasionally sneak a peek in her general direction. Throughout the whole lecture she was staring out the window, not bothering to listen to the material the teacher was spoke of. Her right hand lightly tapped her desk, while her left arm was propped up for her to lie her chin on lazily onto the palm of her hand.

When class was over, Aria quickly gathered up her material and made a beeline for the door, ignoring the questions directed toward her. Ichigo hurriedly put all his material away; he wanted to catch up with her and ask what the hell she was thinking, not caring in the least about her threat from the morning.

"Ichigo!" Asano grabbed his shoulder and shook him uncontrollably as he spoke quickly in a hyperactive tone. "Did you see that new student?!"

"Yeah," he mumbled, looking upon his friend with annoyance as he pulled his hands off his shoulders.

"You'll have no idea what happened this morning! You see, me, Tatsuki, and Orihime were walking to school like normal and looking for you when we got jumped by students from the town over!" Now that got Ichigo's attention.

"What happened? Are you guys all right?" He looked over toward Orihimie and Tatsuki who were making their way over to where Asano and him were standing. They didn't seemed to be hurt. Maybe Tatsuki took care of them. It wouldn't have surprised him, but what did Aria have to do with it?

"No, we were saved! By that new student Blake!"

"It's true," Orihime chimed in, a huge smile on her face. "There were twenty of them and they told us, 'Not so fast, we want to play a game'," Orihime tried her best to mimic the leaders' voice. "And Tatsuke said, 'We're not here to play games. Let us pass so no one gets hurt.' It was so scary! And then he laughed at her! And then he said some other nasty things I rather not repeat, but before they took a step toward us a loud whistling sound made them look away from us. When we turned to see what it was we saw that Blake guy! He had a book in his hand, almost like he was reading it, and looked at the leader with this strange annoyed expression on his face. Then the leader was like, 'What do you want…', he said something I don't want to repeat! And that Blake guy said, 'Your voice is annoying. Do you mind keeping it down so I can read?' The gang leader guy looked confused and started laughing, then Blake said. 'I'll only say this one more time, keep your voice down or else.' Then the gang leader guy said, 'Or else what?' Then that Blake guy shut his book really loudly and put it into his pockets and then began to walk toward us. Then the gang leader said, 'Get 'em boys,' and the gang people lunged for him. Do you want to know what he did?"

Orihime stopped and began to pant wildly. Ichigo couldn't believe she said all that in one breath. He hesitated before asking, "What did sh… he do?"

"He beat them all up with just his feet! He didn't even lift a finger! And when it was just the gang leader left, he ran away. Blake watched him run, shook his head and took his book out of his pocket and began to read again like it was nothing!"

"He didn't even acknowledge us," Tatsuki added, sounding a little ticked. "He just walked past us without saying a word. I called out to him but he didn't stop." Tatsuki had her arms crossed, her head turned to the side with a scowl on her face. Ichigo guessed her pride was hurt from being rescued by a total stranger. "Prick."

"Yeah, can you believe that, Ichigo?" Asano looked gleefully at him. It seemed Aria already had a fan club. He just hoped no one else would hear about her heroic act.

That didn't happen.

By third period everyone was talking about it. As he listened to the nonstop chatter, he hit his forehead over and over again against his desk. He groaned when a girl squealed saying, "There he is!" in a rather loud whisper. He didn't bother looking up to see where she would be seated, but he instinctively looked to his left when he heard someone pull out the seat next to him to sit.

It was Aria.

She acted like she didn't see him, preparing herself for the upcoming class. Ichigo glowered at her the whole time as she rummaged through her handbag. Only once did she sneak a peek at him, and when their eyes meet she smiled smugly at him. He shot his head off his desk and opened his mouth to say something but was interrupted when someone stepped in front of him.

"Blake!" An overly happy voice called. When he looked up to see who got in his way he saw a girl with curly blonde hair, and was extremely short... and also on the chubby side of the scale. Even though her back was turned to him he knew all too well who that girl was. Her name was… her name was… he couldn't remember. But he remembered her having a huge crush on him in the beginning of the year. She would not leave him alone. After a while of him ignoring her, she gave up.

"Blake?" her annoying, grating voice called again, trying her best to get Aria's attention.

Aria glanced up toward her, raising her eyebrow in a way of saying she was listening. The girl moved a strand of hair behind her ear and smiled sweetly. "Um… hi!"

Ichigo leaned in closely, wanting to hear the voice she was going to use, his foot tapping eagerly on the ground.

"Hey."

Again, Ichigo feel over in his seat, but this time people were staring. It did sound like Aria's voice, mostly because he knew what her voice sounded like, but she was perfectly disguising it and actually sounded like a guy with a slightly raspy voice! What the hell! How was she doing that?

"What do you want?" Aria asked with annoyance. She reached into her handbag and pulled out a small book.

"Um… well, you see – I, uh… was wondering if you could say something in German for me…?" She gave a nervous giggle. She probably didn't have any idea what she was going to say to Blake when she first came over, so she quickly tried her best to cover up for it.

Aria/Blake looked up toward the girl and then back down at her book. She licked the tip of her fingers to turn the page, then said, "Geh weg, bevor ich dich kicken."

She smiled and giggled, her hand over her mouth just like any girl would do. "Wow! That was so cool. If you don't mind me asking, what did you say?"

"Go away before I kick you." Was Aria/Blake's blunt response.

Her face paled. She giggled nervously while scratching the back of her head sheepishly before scooting away from Aria/Blake to her own seat.

Ichigo had a bead of sweat slide down the side of his face as he watched the poor, petrified girl saunter back into her seat. He turned his eyes to glare at Aria, but only saw her slightly smiling into the book she was reading. She was enjoying all of this too much.

"You know that wasn't nice," Ichigo muttered loud enough for Aria to hear.

"Does it look like I care," she retorted. She glared at Ichigo then went back to reading her book, ignoring his glowering stare.

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Ichigo was more than happy for the school day to end. His forehead was turning red due to hitting his head repeatedly against his desk every time someone talked about Aria. She was already the talk of the school and it was only her first day! Girls were drooling over… her – which he didn't understand because she still looked like a chick to him, and other guys tried to become her friend after seeing her popularity skyrocket. She ignored them all.

She became the mysterious loner everyone was falling in love with. Figuratively and literally speaking. Dammit, even Orihime wouldn't stop talking about… her – during lunch period, even Asano got into it.

Will someone just kill him now?

"What's wrong with you, Ichigo? You look like crap," Karin blunt musing brought Ichigo back to reality. He was already home and found himself sitting at the kitchen table with his head lying face down against it.

"Are you feeling okay, Ichigo?" Yuzu's worried voice made him groan. Both girls were sitting on the couch, but turned around to speak to their brother.

Before he could respond, their front door opened and a certain cross-dresser walked in with a knowing smile on her face. Both of their eyes meet, but her smile only grew wider while his frown turned into his trademark scowl.

"What the hell, Aria!? Why are you dressed like a guy?! And why are you wearing my clothes?" Ichigo ranted. Aria closed her eyes and casually walked over to the table. She set her things down and pulled off her wig. When he was done yelling he watched her pull out her hair pins, waiting for her to give him the explanation he was dying to know since first period. Finally, she looked up at him, her little smirk still present.

"You know it's not nice to swear in front of your sisters," she slyly said. Ichigo crossed his arms and gritted his teeth. He tried to keep his cool mostly because she was right.

"Will you please just answer my questions?"

Aria shrugged and pulled out a seat to sit down and cross her legs in. She leaned back with her hands placed behind her head. "Isn't it obvious? I don't like to wear skirts, and the only way around it was for me to act and play like a guy. I don't see what the big deal is. You're blowing this way out of proportion."

Ichigo slapped his hand to his face, shaking his head back and forth with exasperation. Today was a long and annoying day, he was extremely tired and Aria acting like everything was okay and normal only added to his stress. "Yeah, but what if someone found out you're a girl? You'll probably be sent to jail or something… I dunno…"

"You're right, you don't know."

Ichigo shook his head and turned sharply on his heel not wanting to deal with Aria's way of avoiding the question. He muttered whatever and began to walk away, but before he could go upstairs to bury his head underneath his blanket and pretend none of that day's events ever happened, a hand grabbed his shoulder and stopped him. He looked over and saw Aria looking at him with almost sad and pleading eyes. "Look… I don't like it any more than you do, but your father wouldn't shut up about me going to school. I… didn't want to wear a skirt because – well…" she stopped to scratch the back of her head with the hand previously on his shoulder. Then, she gripped the bridge of her nose and squeezed ever so lightly like she was forcing herself to come out with whatever was on her mind. "I'm… really, really, self-conscious about my scarring." She crossed her arms and looked away from him, she had a light scowl on her face but she didn't say anything more.

Ichigo stayed silent as he studied her over his shoulder. She seemed agitated for telling him. He really didn't have any idea that she was so self-conscious. There, at home, he seen her wear tank tops…

Then he remembered how she stole one of his T-shirts to wear because her hoodie was in the wash. She had a tank top on then but refused to just wear that alone. The only other time he saw her scarring was that morning when she was arguing with his father, of course not counting the one time she was shirtless because… nope, he wasn't going to think about it. Imagining it made him blush profusely. Not like he saw anything… but still, it was the idea of it.

He turned his head to look at the stairs he was aiming for before she stopped him, and sighed. "Is that all? Why couldn't you just wore tights or something underneath?"

"I thought of that too, but they want me to join a gym class, mostly because it's required, and the girls are required to take a… swimming course for a week straight and the guys only have to play American football." Ichigo noticed how defeated she sounded. So, she wasn't doing it to torture him.

He sighed loudly and shrugged his shoulders. "Fine, whatever. Just remember to ask me next time you want to wear my old clothes." He walked to the stairs and up, not looking over to see Aria watch him walk away. Up in his room he sat down at his desk, burying his face into his arms.

Maybe it wasn't that big of a deal. Just knowing he was the only one who knew that Blake was actually a girl just irked him. Especially since all the girls were falling for her. He was pretty positive that it was going to blow over within a week, Aria's social skills would drive anyone away. He noticed that she liked to be alone for most of the day. He guessed it was hard for her to adjust to the change going on around her at a rapid pace. She'd been in almost complete solitude for over five years, and now she had all these people trying to socialize with her, to be her friend.

He realized that he wouldn't know how she was feeling. He had been around friends and family since, well, forever, but she wasn't use to it like he was. He thought about how he would act if he shut himself away for years with no contact with the outside world? … Well, almost no contact. He remembered her saying once that she traveled a lot, never staying long in one spot and occasionally welcomed help when she was desperate. That's all he got out of her. He always wondered how she survived… how she even lived.

He shook his head. Now wasn't the time to ponder over it. He reached over to his book bag and pulled out his homework. He had a test to study for and trying to figure out what was going on in Aria's mind wouldn't get him anywhere.

But…

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A week passed and Ichigo realized quickly he was wrong. He was extremely, absolutely, no doubt about it, wrong of the whole situation. It didn't blow over. In fact, everyone seemed more attracted to "Blake" because of her cold and distant attitude.

Blake had a fan club. A big fan club.

Ichigo watched below him through the metal fencing of the courtyard on the rough. It was lunch time and he was with his usual group of friends. Asano, Mizurio, Chad, Orihime, and even Uryuu and Tatsuki were up on the roof eating and socializing. He was really surprised to see Uryuu, but he wasn't going to complain. The guy could go anywhere he wanted.

Below, Aria… erm, Blake was walking by herself, her nose in another book as she read diligently, like she always did. When she was at school she was always reading something. A couple times in the few classes he had with her the teachers chastised her for it. When she was at home, she never read anything.

As she walked, behind her was a group of girls following her. When she stopped and turned around, the girls acted like they didn't see Blake; socializing, picking their nails, whatever. When she turned back to walk, they began to stalk again.

Ichigo watched with a sweat drop forming on the side of his face. Every few feet she would turn around, but when she turned to walk again, her pace quickened as she tried to flee without being noticed.

"Ichigooooooo…!" His annoying yet best friend, Asano, said as he launched himself toward the un-expecting boy, but Ichigo knew his tactics, he tried it every day.

At the last second, Ichigo turned so his back was pressed against the metal fence and Asano's face plastering itself against it. When the boy pulled away, he had the shape of the fence etched into his skin. As he rubbed his face to ease the pain he looked at Ichigo.

"What you looking at with such intensity, Ichigo?" Asano questioned, but when he looked over and down toward the court yard he knew instantly. "Hey, it's that German guy." He watched the scene below him unfold and frowned. "He's so lucky to have all those girls following him. Why he doesn't give them the time of day is beyond me. If that was me I'll take every opportunity I got and ask out every one of the girls to see a movie!"

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Itchigo muttered.

Uryuu walked up to the two boys and glanced down toward the courtyard as well, pushing up his glasses like he always did. "Are you two talking about Blake?" He crossed his arms as he too, watched the scene below. "I've always found that to be strange since the first day he arrived. There's something not quite right about him, but I can't figure out what." He had his hand on his chin as he analyzed Blake, his thought wondering.

"What are you talking about, Uryuu," Ichigo tried his best to sound casual. "He's just some stuck up kid who thinks he's all that, I wouldn't look too far into it."

"Hey!" Now Orihime joined the trio of boys. She skipped over to them with a huge grin. "What you guys doing?" When she looked down her eyes sparkled at the supposed boy below. "It's Blake! He's such a nice guy."

"He talks to you?" All three boys exclaimed, looking at her with disbelief.

"Yeah," Orihime gave them all a quizzical look. "Doesn't he talk to you guys, too?"

"Uh, no, he's always rude when I try to speak to him," Asano muttered.

"Oh, that's weird, he's really nice to me. Why, just yesterday I ran into him during lunch and noticed he didn't have any himself so I offered mine!" That got the three's attention, Orihime didn't notice the green faces as they thought about her 'so called' cooking.

"Did he eat it?" Ichigo asked, trying to hide his repulsion.

"He took a bite and said he liked it so I split my lunch with him. You know I always make too much! But it was so strange, as he ate he had a salt shaker with him and put a tone of salt on every spoon full!" She said matter-of-factly. The boys tried their best to hide their appalled faces, but were failing miserably. Orihime opened her mouth to say more but stopped when the door that lead to the stairway slammed closed. Everyone looked over to see Blake with her hands pressed against the door and her shoulders heaving like she just ran a marathon.

"Well, speak of the devil," Uryuu muttered.

Blake looked back and forth, then ran to the left behind the building that held the entrance to the stairs. As soon as she disappeared, the door slammed open and about seven girls came spilling out.

"Where he go?" one asked, looking frantically around.

"I know I saw him running up here!" Another yelled.

"He has to be up here somewhere, we just need to look!"

The girls scattered, going over toward the group and asking where he was, looking around every nook and cranny, and even went around the miniature building that she disappeared behind only to come up empty. They all played dumb, knowing full well she was running away from the obsessed girls when they asked them questions.

"Maybe it was someone else," one pouted. After another thorough search, they finally went back downstairs and out of sight.

They watched them leave with sweat forming on the side of their faces. Ichigo let out an over-exaggerated sigh before shacking his head at the idiotic girls. "Did that just really happen?"

"Where did he…" Uryuu began but stopped short when they all looked up to see Blake emerging from atop of the building and jumping down effortlessly to their level. "How did he get up there?"

"Maybe he climbed on a trash can or something," Ichigo said nonchalantly, shrugging his shoulders.

Uryuu pushed up his glasses but didn't comment.

"Blake!" Orihime yelled happily, waving her hand to get Blake's attention. She looked over and Ichigo could see the sweat drop forming on the side of her face. He just sighed and tried to restrain himself from smacking his head.

"Look, he's actually walking over here!" Asano exclaimed, pointing his finger toward Blake as she walked over. That - surprised Ichigo. She was actually willing to socialize?

What was she up too?

"Did you forget your lunch again, mister?" Orihime shook her finger in front of Blake's face. She blinked and then smiled… she actually smiled!

"Does it look like I'm carrying lunch with me?" Her words were mocking, but the way she said it made it sound teasing; not actually meaning it.

"That's okay," Orihime grabbed Blake's hand and dragged her over to the wall they all ate at, forcing her to sit down. "I made too much again, I don't want it to go to waste. Here," she handed Black a carton full of pink goop. "It's ground salmon with yogurt, ketchup, mayonnaise, pickles, and strawberries!" She sounded way too happy over the disgusted treat.

"Oh my GOD!" Asano whispered like a fan boy. "It's Blake! And he's eating with us!" He quickly ran over and sat down in front of Blake, a huge grin engulfing his whole face.

"He makes it sound like he's some rock band star, and he's only been here for a week," Ichigo said with apparent irritation.

"He is popular with the ladies, so it's logical to think for someone like Asano that if he was friends with Blake, he would become popular, too."

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense."

Uryuu stayed quiet as he studied Blake converse with Orihime and Asano with Chad listening in without saying much and Tatsuki sitting rather close to Orihime and glaring down at Blake. "So you don't think there's anything wrong with him?" Uryuu asked again, eyeing Ichigo from the corner of his eye.

"No, why?"

"Because I sometimes sense a high level of spiritual pressure coming off him, especially in the morning." Ichigo blinked and stared down at his Quincy friend, then he turned a glaring eye toward Blake who was now staring at the two intently. "Actually, I don't have a doubt in my mind that there's something he's hiding, and I will figure it out and exploit it, no matter what." Ichigo saw the fire burning in his eyes, he tried his best not to sweat profusely next to him as he mentally slapped himself over and over again in his mind.

Great. Just great.

The two boys finally decided to join their group of friends. Ichigo sat next to Asano and Uryuu walked over to the wall and leaned against it next to Chad, all the while staring in Blake's direction.

Blake was looking into the carton of goo with a raised eyebrow. "I made that for you too, just in case you forgot your lunch again. I put extra salt in it!" she said cheerfully. She handed Blake a spoon.

Didn't she just say that she made too much, and now she said she made it especially for Blake?

She took it without saying anything and spooned a glob full of the glop. Everyone watched as she brought it close to her mouth, opened, and shoved the whole thing in without hesitation. Ichigo coughed away his gagging, and Asano turned his head with his hand over his mouth, trying to muffle his. Both Chad and Tatsuki simply watched with only mild disgust as she chewed and swallowed.

When it made it down her throat, she sat there unmoving with her eyes closed. When she opened them, she nodded toward Orihime, "Tastes good."

Everyone fell over, even Uryuu managed to slip off to the side but caught himself the last minute before he face planted onto the concrete floor.

When they were situated again, Asano asked a question Ichigo knew he'd been dying to ask. "So does this mean you're going to be eating with us for now on?" He sounded too hopeful.

Aria gave him a pointed stare before closing her eyes and taking another bite of her grotesque food. "I rather not."

"Ohhh, that's too bad," he whined, tears streaming down his face.

Blake raised her eyebrow at him but shrugged, taking yet another bite of her pink sludge.

"You're weird," she muttered.

That made Asano tears fall more rapidly.

When the bell rang everyone went their separate ways. Orihime said she'll see Blake next period, Blake nodded and said thank you for the food. When Asano tried to say something, she turned away from him, ignoring him completely which caused more tears to fall from the teens eyes.

For some odd reason, even though he's dreading over Uryuu's attempt to find out more about her, he found her quite comical, and completely different compared to everyone else he ever met. And that was saying a lot. She – was something else. He hadn't decided if that something was good or bad.


	12. Chapter Twelve: Finding Out

Careless Wonder

Chapter Twelve: Finding out

It was cold that day. Which shouldn't be a surprise considering its winter, but Aria was unusually happy knowing it was going to snow that night. It didn't take a genius to figure out why. Ichigo wondered if she ever saw snow considering how excited she was… What a stupid question, it snowed in Germany so of course she saw snow before.

"I wonder how the snow lights up when fireworks are going off. You know, when light reflects off the snow… I bet it's a sight to see." She had said absentmindedly that morning when we were discussing the weather. He already figured she had a small obsession when it came to fireworks, but he would have never guessed she liked snow as well. Him? He could care less about the snow. In fact, he didn't really like being cold, but when he was little, he didn't mind the occasional snowball fight. Now, he was too old to do such childish things… Summer was more of his motto.

He had told her of Uryuu's plans, how he was going to try and figure out her 'secret'. She didn't seemed to fazed about it. Actually, she said if he figured it out then good for him, he should be a detective when he graduates high school. He didn't understand why she didn't see that as a problem, she countered saying 'why does he even care? It doesn't change anything if he knows or not, he'll just be another gossip buddy for him to gossip about her'. She was an extremely sarcastic person.

But, she always seemed to put a smile on his sisters' faces, which he was grateful for. Karin seemed down the last year and he didn't know why. The only thing he could think of was that her spiritual pressure was increasing, causing more souls to gather around her… He hoped that wasn't the case, but he had a feeling it had something to do with it.

At school, nothing had really changed beside the fact every girl had an obsession over Aria, or her alias, Blake. He tried his best not to roll his eyes when someone was talking about her as she passed in the hallway reading her book. He asked her why she was always reading a book and her answer was so that she didn't have to make eye contact with anyone, and also because what she was reading was interesting enough to grab her attention for the day. Made the school day go by faster.

Today would had been like any other day until in homeroom, his teacher decided to do a group project. It wouldn't have been a big deal if…

"Who wants to volunteer to be Blake's partner's for our group project?" The teacher asked the question to the whole class, and to her surprise almost all the girls raised their hands. Blake looked around and sighed heavily.

But there was one hand the teacher caught that wasn't a female, or someone she wouldn't expect to rise for the occasion. "Oh, Uryuu, that's nice of you to help out our foreign student, you can choose the third group member as well; I trust your judgment."

Ichigo's eyes almost bulged out of their sockets. He watched Blake and Uryuu give sideways glances to one another; of course Blake's wasn't a friendly glance either. He continued to stare down the two, not even realizing that his other friends were trying to get his attention, at least, until a hand smacked the back of his head.

"Hey, what was that for?" Ichigo rubbed the back of his head and stared accusingly at Tatsuki. She glared down at her orange hair friend, but followed his stare to Blake and Uryuu.

"Do you not like Blake either?"

"What me?" he gave a small fake laugh and scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "No, not at all. I don't even know him, how could I not like someone I don't even know?" Tatsuki continued to watch him give a fake laugh. She wasn't stupid. She crossed her arms and gave a warning glare at her orange haired friend.

"You're hiding something. I know it."

Ichigo opened his mouth to say something but stopped when he heard Orihime's voice. He looked over half expecting to see her walk over and ask if she could be part of his team, but was surprised to see her talking to Uryuu. Blake was now sitting on a desk closest to Uryuu with her elbow on her knee and chin on her hand with a rather bored expression.

"Can I be your third team member, Uryuu?" Orihime asked sweetly and looked over at Blake with a smile. "If you're okay with it too, I don't want to intrude." Blake smiled and winked at Orihime which made Ichigo's eye twitch uncontrollably. Is she flirting with Orihime? 'Is she… is she… is she gay?'

…

Of course, he didn't have anything against gay people… wait, if she was gay then his sisters…

"Ichigo, are you okay?" This time Chad was speaking to him. He was usually a quiet guy, but him speaking up means he was actually worried for his friend. He should be. Ichigo was sweating profusely as he watched the three converse.

He had to talk to her tonight… but how was he going to bring it up? 'Oh, hey Aria, how was your day today? Oh, I was also wondering if you're gay. Not like I care, I was just curious that's all.' Yeah, that would go swell, he'll probably end up going to school the next day with welts all over his face.

He brought his attention back to his friends, both showing mix emotions. He sighed. "Sorry, I just remembered something. So," he smiled up at them, trying his best to hide his anxiety. "You guys want to be my partners, right? What are we doing again?" He got smacked in the back of his head again.

"Don't you ever pay attention, Ichigo? We need to make sure our egg doesn't break after being dropped from a two story window with only fifteen straws to protect it. We only have one night to figure out our plan."

"Oh, really? Yeah… sounds – good," he half mumbled as he continued to stare over toward Blake (while rubbing the back of his head for the second time. He could have sworn he felt a lump forming).

"Wow, he's really out of it. I never seen him like this." Tatsuki crossed her arms and sighed.

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Aria tried her best not to glare down at Uryuu. Every time their eyes would meet, he gave an eerie, knowing stare. A couple of times she found herself narrowing her eyes at him, but stopped before their stares turned too heated.

"I think we should go to my house after school to work on our project!" Orihime said cheerfully, oblivious to the two tense teens.

"Sounds good," Aria shrugged, sounding bored and uncaring. Uryuu pushed up his glasses with his index finger, his eyes closed all the while as he nodded.

"Agreed. Tonight should be interesting."

Orihime kept the material that was handed to them and when the bell rang Aria was more than happy to get out of the room. She hated being stared down, it made her extremely uncomfortable. She began walking to her next class, reaching into her pocket of her jacket to pull out a book, but she was stopped abruptly when someone ran up and grabbed her arm. She tried her best not to glare down at the girl intruding her personal space.

"Blake! The man I was just looking for!" Aria couldn't remember the girls' name, but she knew she was the leader of one of her so called fan club. She always found the girl following her during lunch with others close behind. She was a pretty girl, in fact she was quite popular with her looks and smarts. It was rare to find a pretty girl who was also smart at the same time. But she was also extremely immature.

"And why were you looking for me?" She didn't bother trying to hide the annoyance thickly laced in her voice. The girl didn't catch it. Maybe she had to take the pretty and smart title and replace it with pretty and oblivious.

"Did you know in two weeks we have our winter dance?!" She sounded way too cheerful for Aria's liking. The girl looked up at her with dark blue eyes that reminded her of a cloudy day at the beach, and pulled some of her long, silky black hair behind her ear. Why did girls do that? Did they think it was flirtatious? Aria would never know, and she's a girl herself.

"No." Aria said bluntly, already knowing where she was going. The girl looked up at her with confusion. She wasn't that much taller than the girl, but it seemed all the girls were short in that school. She was only 5'5".

"What, but how – " Aria put her hand up and brought her finger to her lip, telling the girl to stop talking.

"I know you were going to ask me and I must say I'm not interested. In fact, I'm not interested in you in the least bit." When the girl let her arm go she reached into her pocket and fished out her book.

"So-so that's it!" She shot back angrily. Aria turned around to look at her, the girl had her arms crossed and her face scrunched up into an unpleasant expression. "You're just going to blow me off like that?! Do you not know who I am? I'm one of the most popular and beautiful girl in this school! You're crazy enough to say no to me. Unless… unless you're gay or something!" Now that got everyone's attention. Everyone in the vicinity was looking at her, some began to crowd around to get a better look to see her reaction and reply.

Aria smiled.

"You make it sound like you have a problem with homosexuality. If I was, by any chance, gay, as you put it, would that change your view of me? Are you one who think you can past judgment on someone who by chance, is slightly different than you? I'm afraid if your pathetic brain thinks like this, which I don't doubt it in the least, then you, my 'friend', are a shallow human being that doesn't deserve my respect or anyone else for the matter. But since you asked and bluntly accused me of being 'gay' in hopes to either embarrass me in saying yes so I can get ridiculed to your own benefit, or go out with you to show that I'm not gay, then you, my dear, are a complete and utter moron." Aria straightened out her jacket and looked down at her book like she was going to read, ignoring the agape stare she was receiving and the snickering the girl got. But to everyone's surprise, she continued as she turned her back to the girl and began to walk to her next destination. "But since you did ask, I'll let you know I'm very well attracted to the opposite sex. You don't interest me in the least."

People began to flat out laugh. The girl made a loud aggravated huff and stomped off, knowing very well she was beaten in her own game. That, and she lost some of her respect as well.

Aria continued walking, ignoring the stares and whoops she received. As she walked she noticed a certain orange haired teen in the crowd. When she passed him, she looked up into his brown eyes and winked, snickering when his face went ablaze.

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When lunch came Aria was relieved to see no one was following her. Was it because they were only fueled to do so because of that girl? Or were they scared she would lash out at them, too? She hoped it was the ladder. It would be better if they were scared of her. Maybe they'll leave her alone from then on.

Sitting underneath a tree she finished the last couple of pages of her book. Closing it and setting it off to the side, she looked up to the sky through the dying leaves of the tree. She let out a long sigh and watched the fog form in front of her from her breath. Everything was all fine until she felt a disturbance in town. She looked in the direction and concentrated. It was a hollow. Before she could get up someone was running through the courtyard and toward the gates of the school. It was Uryuu. She watched him pass and their eyes met, she didn't bother looking away as they stared each other down. He looked away at the last minute and disappeared behind the wall of the gate.

Tonight was going to be an interesting night.

She looked up toward the roof and saw someone staring down at her. He must have noticed the hollow's presence too, and went to the roofs metal gate to watch Uryuu leave. She waved at him but he didn't respond. She smiled and shook her head, he was so stubborn. She closed her eyes and leaned back into the tree, keeping her legs out as well. She couldn't wait for the night to come.

Aria waited at the school entrance and the end of the school day until Uryuu came walking out with Orihime. She was leaning against the wall, but once she saw the two, she stood up and watched them walk over to her. Once Orihime was in front of her she clasped her hands together in excitement. "Are you ready Blake? I have some sandwiches I want you to try, they're really good!" Aria smiled at the girl that reminded her of a certain someone.

"Of course. Anything you make tastes great!"

"I'm glad you think so, a lot of people don't like my cooking…"

"I don't see why not." Aria looked at Uryuu to see him pushing up his glasses to hide the blue, horrified look on his face. That almost made Aria snicker. Almost.

Orihime grabbed her arm and began to drag her toward her house. Aria allowed it, smiling as Orihime went on and on about what she had planned for tonight. Occasionally, she would try to get Uryuu in on the conversation, but his short responses indicated he wasn't in the mood to make small talk.

Orihime had her arm interlocked with Aria's as they walked. Orihime would not shut her mouth, but Aria didn't mind, which was strange for her, but she didn't ponder over it. She figured it had something to do with Orihime's looks…

"Here we are!" Orihime welcomed the two into her house. After shoes were taken off and everyone settled in, the three sat around the table sipping tea and giving their ideas of how to construct their straw, break resistant egg.

"Do you have any ideas on how we should approach this?" Uryuu asked, staring expectantly at Aria. She looked down at the straws and shrugged her shoulders.

"I say cut the straws in half so we have thirty and tape them to the egg pointing in all different directions. That way when it falls then it'll have support in every direction." She thought this whole thing was stupid. Why did they have to work in groups? They could have done this by themselves. They were in high school the last time she checked, not middle school.

"That's actually a good idea," he pushed up his glasses and examined the girl (he thinks is a guy), in front of him. "That way we can have all sides and angles covered."

"Maybe," she shrugged and crossed her arms. "But I think I like your idea better. The pentagon idea would be flashier. It'll give us extra points in creativity."

Uryuu nodded his head, pleased that she liked his idea. "I was actually hoping you would agree with me."

"Yay," was her only reply. She reached over and grabbed a sandwich Orihime made. She didn't know what was in it, but it tasted good. She also noted the greenish tint Uryuu had every time she ate one. It was quite amusing.

"Want do you think, Orihime? Do you have any ideas?" Uryuu politely asked. Orihime shook her head fast, giving them a sheepish laugh.

"Um, nope. Not at all, your guy's ideas are way better than anything I could come up with." Aria snickered. Uryuu glared at her rudeness.

They sat there in silence. Not one saying a word. Uryuu was still glaring at Aria, but she kept her head down acting like she didn't notice. Orihime, finally, noticed the thick tension in the air between the two. "Is everything alright?" Aria shrugged. Here it goes.

"I'm fine, but why don't you ask four-eyes, he's been glowering at me for the last three days." Uryuu narrowed his eyes further, not only from the insult but for initiating an argument. Not like he didn't want this, he was actually planning on confronting Blake once they left Orihime's. But he didn't want to argue and worry his friend.

"Well, if I didn't suspect you were hiding something important then maybe I wouldn't be so 'suspicious' of you."

"Your one to talk," she sneered.

"What does that mean?"

"I dunno, what 'do' I mean…" she almost said it, but she was enjoying their little bicker.

"I wouldn't be asking if I knew."

"Then it looks like you're not as smart as you lead on." That made Uryuu's eye twitch.

"How about we skip the 'formalities' and get down to business. Why do I sense a high spiritual pressure from you every morning? There's no way a normal human would be able to conjure so much, so I can only assume you are well aware of the fact." That made Aria smile.

"I know many things, Quincy," he was now glaring daggers at her, she knew he was wondering how she knew about his race. "But it's really none of your business." Uryuu stood up quickly, his hands on the table as he continued to glare.

"It is my business if you are a threat!"

The whole time they were bickering, Orihime watched the two, her head snapping back and forth as they spoke. "Um…" she began, raising her finger. Aria glanced over at here noticing her movement, but Uryuu kept his eyes on Aria, not daring to look away. "Will you two please stop fighting? You're beginning to scare me."

"Sorry Orihime," Uryuu said, still not looking away from Aria as he sat back down. "I was actually trying to avoid getting you involved." His next words were directed toward Aria. "Why don't we make this easier and tell me what your purpose is and who exactly are you?"

Aria took another bite of her sandwich and set it down on the small plate in front of her. "I'm a human, and I don't really have a purpose. To tell you the truth, I didn't even want to go to school, I was forced."

"Forced?"

"The place I'm staying at – " She stopped abruptly when she felt a disturbance not too far from where they were staying. Hollows, quite a few of them, and they felt – different from a normal one. She couldn't pinpoint it. "Looks like we have to draw this short."

Uryuu was no longer looking at her but off to the right toward the direction of the hollows. "At least we can agree on something." He looked back up toward Aria. "What do you plan on doing?"

"I'm going to go check out those hollows," she stood up and placed both hands in her pockets. "Something doesn't feel – normal." Uryuu nodded.

"Mind if I tag along?"

"I already figured you were." She turned around. "Orihime, stay here, I don't want you to get hurt."

She stood up, her hands crossed in front of her chest as she looked at her with determination. "No, I won't just sit around and do nothing. I can fight too."

Aria hesitated, looking over at Orihime, studying her.

"She's more than capable of handling herself. Let's go, I don't want to waste any more time." Uryuu ordered, running over to the door and outside. There was still some light left, but the sun was setting fast.

Aria nodded toward Orihime. "Be careful." Orihime nodded back and they both followed Uryuu out. They easily caught up to him, but now they were running as fast as they could down the streets. Aria could easily use a certain ability of hers to go on ahead, but she didn't want to leave Orihime behind. She had a feeling the situation had something to do with Roy.

"Stop!" Aria suddenly yelled. Orhime and Uryuu stopped, turning around and stared pointedly at her. "They're on their way here." Right on cue, a hollow screech was heard off in the distance. More followed it and it was rapidly approaching their way. "Prepare yourselves."

Swords appeared on her back, causing Uryuu's eyes to grow wide. But he couldn't look for long, the hollows were already there.

All three looked upon the hollows with horrid surprise. "W-what's wrong with them? Why do they look like that?" Orihime stuttered, her legs shacking at the sight before her.

It looked like someone took apart random hollows and – sewed them back together with other parts of a hollow. The misshaped legs, the triple arms, and even double heads made Aria squirm with disgust. Who would do such a horrid thing? What was the point?

"It doesn't matter," Uryuu had his Quincy bow out and aimed toward the ten to twenty hollows aiming their way. "I should be able to take them out with ease." Shots flew from his bow, all hitting the target. The hollows wallowed in pain, their screeches almost too loud to bare.

But they weren't disappearing. Again, they watched with horrid stricken expressions as the arrows disintegrated into their bodies, like it never happened. They only faltered for a second before coming at full speed toward the three teens. Aria grabbed her black sword and readied herself. Even though there was something terribly wrong with those hollows, they were still weak.

"You guys should probably let me handle this." Aria took a step forward, twirling her sword in her hand, lisening to the vibrations pass her ear with each twirl.

"Are you crazy?! How do you expect to handle all of these hollows when my arrows didn't even singe them?!" Uryuu yelled. Aria glared at him. She looked forward again and they were basically on top of them, only a foot away. She ran over to Orihime and wrapped her arm around her waist. When the hollows made their first attack she jumped into the air, a green light appearing at her feet that Uryuu noticed immediately as he followed after her.

They jumped from building to building with the hollows hot on their heels. She said the words for her sword to release, knowing full well she was going to need it. Everything she did Uryuu noticed, taking note.

"Dammit," Aria swore out loud. "We need to get away from the town and into the forest. I can't use my Zanpakuto here." She didn't care revealing things to Uryuu at the moment. When this was all over, she knew she was going to have to explain everything to him. She just hoped Ichigo didn't feel the hollows presence. She didn't want him to waste any more energy. So, she had to make this quick.

"Right, you take the lead," Uryuu agreed following behind her as they jumped from rooftop to rooftop with Orihime clinging around her neck. In the back of her mind, she was freaking out from the contact. She hated being touched. Not only that, but Orihime's side was pressed to her chest. She probably figured out she wasn't actually male. Or… she thought she was a transvestite.

"Orihime," Aria said, no longer masking her voice. She looked at her, but she didn't seemed surprised by the sudden voice change. "As soon as I let you go, I want you to run away as far as you can."

"What!? No, I can figh-"

"This isn't about if you can fight or not," Aria cut her off, trying her best not to snap at the girl. "If you get in the way of my Zanpakuto, it will shred your human body to pieces." She glanced at Orihime. She looked scared, and also a little taken back, but she nodded regardless. Aria was thankful she didn't question her any further. She then turned her attention to Uryuu. "Hey, you." He looked at her with annoyance

"I have a name, you know."

"Four-eye grumpy butt, when I stop you need to stand directly behind me. If you don't, you will die." She said bluntly, smiling at his glare. "I'm pretty sure someone as dense as you still values their life."

"And why should I trust you?"

"Please, Uryuu." She wouldn't look at him, but now she was being completely serious, her voice carrying over her worry. Now wasn't the time to fool around.

"Fine."

"Thank you."

Now if everything else would go the way she wanted, then Ichigo wouldn't have to get involved. But she couldn't get over how they just – absorbed Uryuu's arrows. Her attack didn't hold any reitsu, but she couldn't drop the feeling that there's something more the hollows had up their sleeves.

"Get ready," Aria grunted as she began to descend, pushing herself far off a building and into a park in front of the woods. She kicked off the ground, the green light growing more prominent the more worried she got. When she was satisfied with the distance, she stopped and let Orihime go. She gave Aria one last glance before taking off into the thick of the trees. Uryuu landed behind Aria and did as he was instructed.

"Their coming," Mr. Obvious exclaimed as he watched the barrage of hollows descend on their one spot. She held her sword to the left of her, only keeping her right hand on the hilt. She waited a second longer for them to come closer before swinging her sword and letting the giant shockwave boom through the air. The trees around them flattened, Uryuu ducked behind Aria while covering his ears.

The hollows sliced into thousands of pieces. Falling to the ground in one giant heap of hollow mess. "And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you take down a hoard of hollows ready to kill you."

Uryuu stood up and dusted himself off while glaring at Aria. "You could have also warned me about the noise. I thought my ears were going to bleed."

"Is that all you do is bitch and moan?"

Uryuu opened his mouth to say something but stopped when he noticed something. "Why is the hollow debris still here?"

Aria looked behind her and narrowed her eyes. He was right, they hadn't disappeared yet. Then something horrible happened. The parts closest to each other began to reunite. Crawling toward one another and joining. "That… shouldn't be possible…" Aria barely whispered, too shocked to speak anything louder. Uryuu didn't say anything, his eyes were wide and shacking with fear and the grotesque… thing – they were witnessing.

Aria brought her sword up but hesitated, not sure if she should strike again. Would it matter? All she would be doing was destroying the trees around her. Dammit. What the hell was happening!?

She didn't know what to do.

"Maybe if I keep on breaking them apart, they won't be able to form anymore," Aria offered, not really hearing what she was saying.

"Maybe. If you destroy enough of their flesh, what is there to connect too…?" Uryuu began to get his composure back, but he still couldn't fathom over what was happening.

"Go to Orihime." Aria ordered.

"And leave you behind? Like I said before, Orihime can take care of herself. Besides, two minds are better than one. We'll figure something out together as we analyze the situation first hand."

Aria rolled her eyes at him. He was stubborn and she knew he wouldn't listen to her. He was almost as stubborn as Ichigo.

"You go left, I'll go right?"

He nodded and they both sprinted opposite directions. Aria switched her sword to her left hand. It stopped vibrating, its power being deducted by eighty percent. Her black hilted sword worked best when wielded with her right hand, but her white Zanpakuto handles better in her left.

Uryuu sent a barrage of arrows, not stopping until they sliced through the hollows flesh, watching carefully to see if he notices anything. Aria was doing the same, bringing her sword up and slicing through the hollows that got close enough. They just kept on regrouping, the numbers never going down.

What was the point of this?

She flashed through the hollows, slicing one after another.

Why would someone do this to hollows? She didn't see the point. If this had something to do with Roy, what was his motive? To kill her? She had a feeling that wasn't the case. But what was it? It was beginning to piss her off the more she thought about it. Damn it all to hell. The next time she saw Roy, she was going to beat the answers out of him without hesitating. Something she should have done the first time. If she wasn't so stubborn to use her Shikai.

Something flashed in her peripheral vision, but before she could look it was already gone, another hollow forming where she thought she saw something. Maybe she had to get closer… There! Something was shimmering, a little star stone, and the hollow flesh clumped over it, like it was attracted to it.

"Uryuu!" "Blake!" they both said at the same time.

"Did you see…?" Uryuu started.

"Some shimmering stone?"

"Yes, if I time it right…" Uryuu shot an arrow at the exact moment the crystal appeared after taking out a hollow. It made contact, making it shatter and disappear. The hollow clumps disappeared as soon as it was destroyed.

"That's it!" They both exclaimed. "Now," Aria gritted when she felt a claw dig into her shoulder. "We just need to take them out… one at a time… ugh! This is going to take forever!"

"Is complaining the only thing you know how to do?" Uryuu retorted.

She snickered.

Uryuu smiled, but it soon left his face when a claw hand ripped through the front of his body. He flew backwards, hitting the ground hard. "Dammit." Aria tried to make it over to him, but she was blocked off. Her right hand twitched, ready to grasp her sword, but she restrained from doing so. She couldn't, if she did she'll kill Uryuu anyways.

"GET OUT OF MY WAY!" Aria roared. She brought her hand up to use her hollow mask, but she was pushed back, a hollow slicing into her side. She fell to the ground, a hollow arm smashing into her right, making her unable to call her mask into play. No! She had to get to Uryuu, she won't let another did because of her!

They needed a miracle.

And just like that, all the hollows began to freeze into blocks of ice. Aria didn't realize she closed her eyes when she saw a Hollow loom over Uryuu, but when she felt the breeze blistering against her skin, she opened her eyes to see a frozen waste land of hollow bodies before they all broke apart into nothing.

"But…" Before she could ask the question, a boy with stark white hair in a haori landed not too far away from her. They both stared at each other. Why was he there…! Aria had an idea why.

"What the hell?!" Ikkaku landed in front of her with a scowl. Where the hell did he come from? "Aren't you supposed to be strong? You just got whipped by a couple of low ranked hollows!" Next to him was Yumichika, grinning down at her. Then he blinked.

"What are you wearing? It's so horrid!" he pointed a finger at her head, his face clear with his disgust.

A vein popped on her forehead. She first pinned her glare on Ikkaku. "For your information, I was babysitting so I couldn't use my full ability without killing people, and," she turned her glare to Yumichika. "You shouldn't be talking chicken face."

"CHICKEN FACE! WHO YOU CALLING CHICKEN FACE! YOU OBVIOUSLY DON'T KNOW WHAT BEAUTY LOOKS LIKE!"

The two bickered back and forth. Aria was standing up now, ignoring the pain in her side and shoulder. Orihime was tending to Uryuu which she was glad to see the two were okay.

"Will you two knock it off?!" A stern child-like voice ordered. Ikaku, Yumichika, and Aria looked over to see Toshiro scowling at them. Aria crossed her arms. Toshiro sighed. "You're probably wondering why we are here."

"No need to explain, I already figured it out."

"Oh?"

"Yamamoto sent you and a team of your pick to watch over me and to also study, am I wrong? I should have suspected he would do something like this." Aria crossed her arms and walked past the three. "I'm pretty pissed off right about now, so I would appreciate it if you don't talk to me." She wondered if they knew about Roy. Were they sent right after Ichigo and her arrived back? Later she would have to thank Toshiro for saving her and Uryuu.

She walked over to Uryuu and Orihime. Once Uryuu noticed her, he stared at her until she was all the way to where they were standing. "Are you okay, Orihime," was her first question when she was in front of them.

"Oh, yes, yes, I didn't even get a scratch!" She smiled. Aria nodded.

"Since we all know we are okay and alive, I hope you could answer a couple of my questions-" Uryuu started, but was cut off when someone called her real name.

"Aria!" she froze. She knew that voice and he, being the idiot he was, was calling out her real name. He was stupider than she thought. She reached down and grabbed her shoe, tossing it in her hand as she weighed it, then whipped around and chucked the shoe, flying through the air and hitting an orange hair teen in his shinigami outfit square in the forehead.

He fell backwards, the back of his head hitting the ground hard. He shot up, one hand rubbing the back of his head and the other rubbing his forehead. "What the hell was that for?! Why do you always have to hit me on a daily basis?!" he looked at Aria, her eye twitching with irritation, then his eyes moved over to Orihime and Uryuu, realization flooding his face. Oh, that was why she hit him.

"You two know each other?" Uryuu asked, already figuring out the answer as soon as she hit him with her shoe.

Ichigo walked up to the three, still rubbing his forehead. "Yeah, but this idiot wanted everyone not to know we knew each other!"

"I see." He paused. "So you kept me in the dark."

"What? Hey, don't take it like that she basically threatened me. You saw her hit me with her shoe," He held up the shoe like it was evidence. "She's violent!"

"…She?"

Ichigo froze. Crap, he was going to get hit again.

And sure enough, a fist hit the back of his head flinging him forward and face first into the ground, eating dirt. Again, he shot up. "Will you stop that?!"

Aria had her arms crossed, glaring death at Ichigo. Then she sighed and reached up to pull off her wig. Both Uryuu and Orihime watched with wide eyes. She took the pins out and put them in her pocket, her light red hair splaying over her shoulders. "Looks like you know my big secret now." She turned on her death glare, flames seen in the back of her eyes as she stared the two down. "And if you tell anyone you will regret it deeply." They both nodded at the same time, sweat forming on the side of their faces. "Good." Her full attention was drawn to Uryuu, her expression blank. "So, what questions do you want to ask?"

Aria, to the best of her knowledge, answered every question Uryuu sent her way, (he didn't ask about the green light, though. He wanted to talk to her about it alone). After satisfied, and calling a truce, they walked their separate ways, Uryuu offering to walk Orihime home. Ichigo chatted with the four soul reapers, and then Rangiku suddenly popped out of nowhere and squashed her captain in her enormous boobs in the process.

Toshiro asked his questions but Aria evaded them, giving only half-assed answers. Once everything was said and done, Ichigo and Aria headed home.

She told Ichigo the whole story. Everything down to the crystals that revived and regrouped hollows. He listened intently, not once stopping her to ask questions. When she was done, they were silent.

After a while, Ichigo finally broke the silence. "Do you think it was Roy?"

"I don't have a doubt in my mind. But why? Why the hell is he doing this? How did he do it?" she grind her teeth together, hating how she couldn't figure anything out.

And also how people were getting hurt because of her.

"Only time will tell. Believe me, everything will come clear soon. It always does," Ichigo tried his best to comfort her. He saw the stress on her face clear as day.

"I… hope so."

A snowflake fell in front of Aria. She stopped and watched it hit the pavement, more following close behind. She looked up to see it was already beginning to snow. A cool breeze caressing her cheek.

She smiled.


	13. Chapter Thirteen: Snow Day!

Careless Wonder

Chapter Thirteen: Snow Day!

Ichigo groggily walked down the stairs, his hands trying to wipe the sleep out of his eyes. He was ready to go, he had his school uniform on and scowl already in place; he was all set. He walked into the kitchen while scratching his head, his eyes closed as he yawned. When his show of tiredness ended, he looked around him seeing that Yuzu and Karin were not eating breakfast like they normally would at that time of day. He wondered if they slept through the blare of their alarm clocks.

He turned to go back upstairs to wake his sisters but stopped when he noticed someone was in the TV room flipping through channels. His eyebrow raised as he walked over to inspect. His head peeked over the couch and saw Yuzu and Karin flipping through the channels with opposite expression. Ichigo was confused.

"What's going on?"

The two looked up to see Ichigo towering over them, Karin instantly seeing he had his school uniform on and snickered. "It's a snow day you know, why do you have your school uniform on? Planning on going to school to suck up to your teachers?"

"A snow day," Ichigo began, growing more confused. He couldn't remember the last time his school cancelled because of the weather. "Why wasn't I told?" Karin shrugged.

"I dunno, ask Aria, she's the one who told us." Karin went back to flipping through the channels.

"And where is Aria?"

"I think she's outside."

Ichigo grumbled while walking to the door. He clearly was not in a good mood now since he got dressed for nothing. Another hour of sleep would have been great for the tired, orange haired teen. Opening the door, he peered outside to see everything covered in white. If he had to guess, it looked like they got about a foot of snow. He spotted Aria instantly, seeing her outside with her usual… she was wearing his favorite number fifteen shirt again.

But she didn't have a coat on.

Normally, he would have been annoyed, but seeing her without a coat in the freezing weather wearing nothing but a short sleeve shirt and sweat pants, he only sighed, letting her win that round. He walked forward and closed the door behind him. It was cold, he was already shivering. He walked to where Aria was standing and put his hand in his pockets as he approached.

"You're going to catch a cold if you don't put a winter coat on," he said with worry, but was heavily laced with annoyance.

She turned her upper body around to look at him, her rosy cheeks seemed to stand out more against her slightly pale skin. She smiled, and it wasn't her normal small one that was barely visible, but an actual smile that even reached to her eyes.

"Look at all this snow!" she said gleefully, turning back around and bending forward to grab some snow with her already reddening fingers. He rolled his eyes. "I'll have to admit, I never seen this much snow before. When I was alone, I usually had to travel somewhere where it didn't snow, just in case I had to spend a couple of weeks sleeping outside." She stood up and fully turned with the snow in her hands. He wondered how she wasn't shivering, she was red all over.

"Hey," he took a step forward and grabbed her wrists, forcing her to let go of the snow, which she did without much effort on his part. He stopped, feeling her hands shaking rapidly, almost like she was on a caffeine high. He firmly wrapped his fingers around her wrists in an attempt to stop the shacking, but failed. "Look at you. You look like your freezing to death, I doubt you want to spend the rest of today and the weekend sick in bed. Come back inside." He tugged her forward, a pout forming on her lips.

"I guess not…" she looked behind her and watched the small flurry of snow fall from the sky. "I wonder if tomorrow will be a snow day, too. It doesn't look like it's letting up."

He pulled her inside by her left wrist and over to the kitchen. When he let her go and turned to face her, he could clearly see her shacking, her face, hands, and arms turning redder from the warm air. He narrowed his eyes.

"What were you thinking going out there without a coat or something?!" He reached down and grabbed her hands. "I was going to run your hands under warm water, but seeing as they're practically frozen, that wouldn't be a good idea. Not unless you enjoy pain." He rubbed his hands against her right on both sides, he could practically feel the cold seeping through her skin. "You're an idiot sometimes." When she didn't comment he looked up to see what she was doing. Her head was turned, looking out the window with shimmering eyes. "You really like the snow, don't you?" She nodded. He grabbed her left hand to begin warming that one as well.

"I remember when I was real young, my dad and I use to make snow men. We made so many they took up the whole back yard. Forts was another thing we made together. He would make the walls higher than my head, and we would hide in them at night when my mom was looking for us. She would always find us because of my loud giggling…" she trailed off. Ichigo looked up again and saw she was now frowning as she replayed the memory in her head. He could see her pain clear in her eyes.

That was the first time he saw her walls slip. Seeing the pain she harbored, he found it hard to believe that she was capable of putting up such walls. Seeing her eyes, she looked lost and scared.

And just like that, it was gone.

She was staring hard out the window, like she just realized where she was at. She turned her eyes to him, then she looked down and narrowed them – then slyly smiled. "Why Ichigo, I didn't know you had a thing for me." Ichigo looked down and saw he was now grasping her now normal colored hands. He pulled back, his face flustered.

"What?! N-no, of course not! I have no idea what you're talking about." He crossed his arms and turned to the side, his trademark scowl back in full swing. She smiled.

"Soooo, do you have any winter coats and hats that would fit me?"

Karin sat up and looked over the couch. "I have a coat you can have and a hat with gloves. There too big for me because they use to belong to Ichigo until they were handed down to me." She got up and disappeared around the corner. In a minute she came back out with said coat, hat, and gloves. She handed the article of clothing over to Aria.

"Thanks Karin, I appreciate it."

"No big deal. You don't have to thank me, not like I want to wear Ichigo's old, raggedy coat anyway." Aria thanked her again, anyway. Karin just shrugged her shoulders and went back to the TV.

"Aria!" The said girl whose name was being called, lifted up her arm, fisting her hand just in time for someone's face to smash into it before he could almost kill her with a bear hug that she despises. Isshin crumbled to the ground, twitching all the while with his hands on his nose.

"Why? Why!? Why is the world so cruel!?" he cried out. He got up to his feet and ran over to the poster of Ichigo's mom, smacking his body to it to continue his unusual twitching while asking the poster why life was so cruel to him. Ichigo's eyebrow twitched uncontrollably at the sight set before him. He would think that he would have been use to his wild antics by now.

"He's humping the poster again," Aria grumbled. She watched with displeasure, crossing her arms and rolling her eyes at the old man. Ichigo didn't reply.

Then, like nothing happened, Isshin popped up between the two and wrapped his arms around their necks. "So, what do you two have planned for this wonderful snow day? Just make sure you dress properly, I wouldn't want any of you to get a cold…" He went on and on and on, spewing out nonsense. He laughed, tightening his arms around the two until, at the same time, they both elbowed him in the stomach. He hunched forward, repeating his words from earlier.

"Will you stop doing that already? You know Aria doesn't like to be hugged," Ichigo walked away, shaking his head at his annoying father. "What are you doing anyways? Shouldn't you be working right about now?"

"I took the day off!" Isshin said proudly. "I want to spend the day with my son and three daughters!"

"I'm not your daughter," Aria muttered.

Tears fell down his face from hearing those four words. "My fourth daughter doesn't love me!" He was going at the poster again. Aria rolled her eyes.

"Why do you call me your fourth daughter anyway? Who's the third?"

"Rukia, apparently," Ichigo sighed.

"So," Aria started, crossing her arms. "What do you want to do today?" She asked Ichigo. He shrugged.

"Go back to bed."

"Your such a downer, no wonder everyone calls you a prude."

"Hey! Stop with the insults, will ya?"

"Hey," Yuzu called, now standing in the kitchen with the three. "Since your not doing anything do you want to make a snowman with me, Ichigo?"

"Uhhh…"

"I can," Aria smiled down at her warmly. "I'm the master at making snowmen." Yuzu smiled brightly with her response, both now looking at Ichigo. "He's coming, too. He told me earlier he likes to make snow angels in the snow when no one's looking." Karin popped up, smiling up at her big brother teasingly.

"Is that so, never knew my brother had a soft spot for that sort of thing." All three girls laughed at the now scowling Ichigo.

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Yuzu had Ichigo's hand in hers as she dragged him to the park with Aria and Karin ahead of them talking. Everyone had the proper winter gear on, even though Ichigo had to lecture Aria about wearing her gloves. If she was planning on making a snowman with Yuzu, she was going to need the gloves.

Ahead of them, Karin and Aria made snowballs as they walked and chucked them at random things like signs and mailboxes. He could hear Karin laugh and occasionally heard Aria chuckle. He couldn't hear what they were saying, but he could see the smile on Karin's face. She was enjoying herself. Ichigo couldn't help but smile to himself.

Yuzu swung her bag of snowman material as she walked next to Ichigo. "I haven't made a snowman in a really long time. I think the last time was with mom." Ichigo stared down at his sister, she was looking forward with a small, sad smile.

"It's really been that long?"

"Yeah, I can't wait. I have all the material," she brought the bag in front of her and looked down at it. "Buttons for eyes, black rocks for the mouth, a hat, scarf, and even a carrot for his nose." She was smiling again.

"Hey!" Karin called, waving her hand in front of the park entrance. "Hurry up slow pokes! I'm not getting any younger here!"

"Coming!" Yuzu replied and began to jog to catch up, giggling all the way.

Ichigo sat under a tree watching Karin and Aria push around a giant ball of snow for the bottom half of the snowman. The thing was up to Karin's waist when they decided it was big enough. Aria went to help Yuzu with the middle as Karin made the bottom half rounder and getting any dirt or grass off it. Aria and Yuzu rolled the middle over to the base, all three circled around it ready to pick it up. When they lifted, both Yuzu's and Karin's face turned red from the weight with Aria laughing at their faces. When they took a step though, Yuzu and Karin let go and the un-expecting Aria eyes grew wide as she fell back with the large ball of snow toppling over, completely covering her. Her head popped out of the snow, sputtering some out. Taking one look at her, Karin and Yuzu laughed with Aria soon following.

After another try they finally had the snowman made, Yuzu and Karin put the clothes and face on while Aria went searching for sticks. When she came back with two fairly sized sticks, the snowman was finally complete. All three stood back and admired their handy work.

"If I say so myself, I think this is the best snowman I ever seen." Aria smiled down at the two girls. Karin had her hands on her hips with a smile, while Yuzu had her hands clasped in front of her with a big, happy smile.

"Of course it's the best," Karin gloated, rubbing under her nose with her finger. "We made it after all." Yuzu nodded in agreement.

"I never made one this big before, it's so much taller than me! I love it!" Yuzu giggled.

Ichigo came up behind them and poked his head between Yuzu and Karin, "Nice job you two. Dad would be jealous if he saw your guy's snowman. It's the best one I've seen." Yuzu smile grew. She hugged Ichigo around the waist which surprised him, but recovered quickly putting his hand on her shoulder with a smile.

Aria lightly punched Ichigo in the shoulder. "Oh, so where was I when this snowman was made?" She teased.

"Oh, you're here? Huh – I guess I didn't see you," he laughed when he saw her face scrunch up with irritation. Before he knew it, a snowball smacked into his own face. He blinked, then narrowed his eyes at the smiling Aria.

"Oh, so you want to play that game." He bent down slowly, balling up snow into his hands and looked up mischievously at the still smiling Aria.

"Like you can hit me," She snorted. "You throw like a –" A snowball hit her face, making her take a step back in surprise. She looked at Ichigo to see him looking at her in confusion, then back down at his own snowball. Both their eyes turned to Karin who had her hands on her hips and a triumphant smile on her face. "So you want to take sides, do you?" She smiled as an idea flashed through her eyes. "Let's have a snowball fight." She walked over to Yuzu and placed her arm around her shoulder. "You two against us two. One hit kill. We have a half an hour to build our fort in a random place in the park. Whoever retrieves…" she looked around, looking for something until her eyes lit up. She pulled the hat off her head and smiled down at it. "Whoever retrieves the opposing teams' hat wins automatically?" Ichigo began to shake his head but Karin took the initiative.

"Heck yeah! You're on!" She turned and grabbed Ichigo by the arm "Come on Ichigo, we have a snowball fight to win."

"What? I never agreed to this?"

"Will you stop complaining and just have fun for once in your boring life?"

Aria watched them walk off, Ichigo still complaining. She turned toward Yuzu and smiled down at the young girl. "I have a plan." She winked.

Half an hour passed, both had their basses made and ready for the upcoming battle.

"Okay Ichigo, what's the plan?" Karin asked as she rolled their snowball ammo.

"I don't know. I didn't even want to play this stupid game," Even though he was saying that, he too, was rolling out balls of snow, his eyes shifting back in forth, preparing for a surprise attack.

"I'm glad I can count on you," She said with sarcasm. "I say you stay here and sulk and I'll go look for their base. Aria most likely has Yuzu guarding as she's out looking for our hideout. Just make sure you actually try and defend, I don't want to lose because of your laziness."

"Nice vote of confidence there, Karin. You know, that wasn't really nice."

"I'm only telling the truth. Ever since mom died you've been such a prude. It's okay to have fun once in a while, just let loose and have fun once in a great while."

He didn't say anything. He couldn't say anything. What could he say to that? She was right after all. He did change a lot after she died, he realized that.

A snowball came whizzing over their heads. They both ducked and pressed their backs to the wall of their fort. "She's already here?" Karin was a little more than surprise.

"That's a good thing. We can take her out and the game is as good as ours."

Karin turned to look at Ichigo with amazement. He was hunched over as he poked his head up to look for Aria, his eyes twitching back a forth. He looked determined. Karin smiled.

It was about time.

Ichigo ducked, a snowball whizzing over where his head was. "She's to the right hiding behind the forth tree nearest us." He picked up a snowball and chucked it in her direction before ducking again. "She rolled over to the next tree over. Now she's hiding behind the third tree to the left."

Karin nodded. "Okay, how about we grab as many snow balls we can hold and chuck them in her direction. She needs to slip up sometime." Ichigo returned the nod.

"Sounds like a plan."

They both shot up and chucked as many snowballs they could. They were lucky, she was just creeping out when they stood and started their assault. She dodged and rolled to get out of the way. Both reached down to grab more snowballs, but realized they ran out.

"Hurry, make more! She's coming!" Karin ordered.

They desperately made more snowballs. Then, they heard the snow crunch near them. Karin panicked, she grabbed a snowball and shot up, throwing the ball with her eyes closed.

Then it was silent.

Karin slowly opened her eyes to see Aria was only a foot away from her, twitching on the ground, her eyes spinning, and snow covering her face. Ichigo stood up, looking down at Karin's handy work and smiled.

"Nice job Karin, you got her!"

She shot her hand up into the air with excitement. "One down, one to – "

Splat

They both froze, not believing what just happened.

They both slowly turned around to see Yuzu smiling sweetly at them, her hands clasped behind her back. "Looks like I win."

While they were in the heat of the moment, Yuzu came out from her hiding spot and threw two snowballs, both hitting their backs.

Their eyes twitched at the sweet Yuzu who somehow beat them. Aria shot up from her lying position, smiling wildly at Yuzu. She leaped over their fort, grabbed the hat that was supposed to be the winning piece and ran up to Yuzu grabbing her into a bear hug. She twirled the girl around, both laughing from their victory.

Ichigo watched as Aria twirled his little sister around, her feet not touching the ground anymore. She looked so happy, her smile took up most of her face. She looked like a normal human being, someone who was truly happy with their life.

He couldn't look away. She looked - wonderful. Amazing.

Aria slipped, her foot flying up as she fell backwards, Yuzu flung over her head. Both fell on their backs, but Aria sat up right away to look at Yuzu. "Are you okay? Did I hurt you?" she said quickly and full of worry.

Yuzu was laughing. "That was so much fun. We should play again." She began to move her arms and legs back and forth, making a snow angel.

"I call Aria!" Karin declared. She ran over to the two and fell next to them. All three were moving their arms and legs creating snow angels.

He didn't say anything about the insult. He still had a soft smile on his face as he walked over to the girls. Aria stood up and looked down at her artwork. He laughed when he saw her back and jeans covered in snow. He stood next to her and wiped the snow off her back, (but not going down any lower past her waist). "You're covered in snow, if you don't wipe the snow off your jeans they'll soak through. If that happens, you will get a cold and it won't be pretty."

She smack his arm away lightly and crossed her arms. "I think I can take care of myself." She looked to see his sisters standing up and admiring their work as well. "I'm guessing you're not going to make a snow angel, even if I ask you nicely?"

"You guessed right." She shrugged her shoulders then bent down to her snow angel. She drew a face where the head was supposed to be. When she stood up, she smiled smugly at her handy work.

"Look, it's you." He looked down to see a frown, eyes, and eyebrows set to a scowl.

"Looks just like you, Ichigo," Karin teased, crossing her arms.

His face mimics the angel causing all three girls to laugh. "I don't look like that all the time."

"Then you need to look in the mirror more often."

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They walked home after deciding it would be best to just go and drink some hot chocolate instead of playing another game. Ichigo's sisters walked ahead, Yuzu skipping and Karin following close behind with her hands behind her head. Ichigo and Aria walked side by side as they watched the two girls ahead of them.

"You know," Aria began, breaking the silence. "I've always wanted a sibling." She watched his sisters fondly.

"Well, according to my dad your part of the family now. So basically they are like your sisters." His eyes shifted to look at her. She was still smiling, her eyes shining with warmth. "You care about them, don't you?" She bite her bottom lip, something he only seen her do once before back at Kisuke's shop. Was she nervous?

"Even though I haven't been here for very long, I'm starting to love them like they are my own sisters."

"So, does that make me your brother?"

She acted like she had to think about it, grabbing her chin. "No, I can't see you being my brother."

"And why not?"

""Cause I wouldn't want a brother with freaky orange hair. I would have to protect him all the time from the big and scary bullies." She snickered. "Besides, you're too much of a cry baby anyways, my brother would be tough."

Ichigo put her into a head lock, rubbing his knuckled against her scalp repeatedly. "What was that? Why don't you say that again, I didn't quite hear you?" She pulled free, pushing his hands away with a grunt. She pulled her hand into a fist and punched him straight in the jaw, making him stager back.

He grabbed his chin and glared at her. "You know I hate it when you do that."

She crossed her arm, jutting her hip out and grinned. "Oh yeah? What you going to do about it tough guy? If I remember correctly, I was the one who saved you from those bullies back then."

Eye twitch.

Before she knew it, she was falling backwards, her back hitting the soft snow near the sidewalk. Ichigo loomed over her on his knees, snow in his hands. She opened her mouth to speak but was soon eating snow. She kicked her legs wildly, her arms flailing around. Ichigo laughed at her attempt to move away, that is until her fist hit him square in the nose. He sat back, clutching his nose in pain.

Aria wiped the snow off her face, glaring up at the orange haired teen. "You know," he started. "That really did hurt."

"Yeah, well, you deserved it dumbass." He rubbed his nose and glowered down at her… then he smiled – then he began to laugh. Aria scrunched up her face in confusion, then, out of nowhere and out of character for her, she laughed too.

Yuzu and Karin looked behind them to see what they were laughing at. What they didn't expect to see was Ichigo straddling over Aria and laughing together. "What weirdo's." Karin shrugged it off turning around and walking off. Yuzu face turned pink, but she turned around to follow her sister back home.

The funny part about the whole situation was that the two didn't have the slightest clue what position they were in.


	14. Chapter Fourteen: Making Plans

Careless Wonder  
  
Chapter Fourteen: Making Plans  
  
Everything wasn't as simple as she wanted it to be. The events of the past couple of days had her mind reeling over questions she could not find the answers to. It was driving her insane. The thing she wanted most at that very minute in time was to confront Roy and get the answers she desired, to end the turmoil bubbling up inside of her. She wanted it all to end. Friends were getting hurt, and the family she was staying with and growing to love, was in danger because of her. If only she stayed away then none of this would be happening. She didn't care if she was now controlling her hollow side, she would go back in time and stop herself from coming to that town if it meant protecting the Kurosaki family.  
  
The last couple of nights she'd been walking the streets of Karakura town in hopes that Roy, or anyone, would confront her. To end the madness once and for all. But nothing happened. The only thing she ever confronted were mere hollows. It aggravated her to no end knowing how much control they had over the matters at hand. They could pop out anytime they wanted to and she was forced to wait, not knowing what their next move was or when they were going to attack.  
  
It had been a full month since she's been staying with the Kurosaki family. She felt like a burden, but they acted like she was part of the family in which she was grateful for.  
  
At school she still mostly stayed to herself. Sometimes she would meet up with Orihime for lunch, or talk to Uryuu about any new news about the recent hollow attacks. Other than what was needed, she was beginning to conform into a routine of sorts. Something she was relatively okay with. She was beginning to open up more, growing more comfortable with the people around her. She could stand the occasional hug from Orihime, which was an achievement of its own. Occasionally, she would talk to Asano when he was around the times she was speaking to Orihime or Uryuu. It amused her to see him so giddy when she responded to his constant pestering.  
  
And then there was Ichigo. At school, she tried her best to ignore him, but she was beginning to enjoy his company so it was growing exceedingly difficult to do so. Occasionally, when Asano and Ichigo parted ways to go home, Ichigo and she would end up walking home together. She enjoyed teasing him.  
  
Today though, she decided to give in and 'make friends'. She was starting to grow bored anyways, maybe hanging out with people would get those crazy fan girls off her back. She was starting to believe they only liked her because she was some mysterious loner. She hoped that was the case.  
  
Ichigo eyed the girl, dressed as a boy, walking next to him on their way to school. She didn't even have a book out like she didn't notice him, but instead chose to walk to school with him to be seen by others. He grew extremely suspicious.  
  
"What do you want?" Aria turned and blinked at him.  
  
"What do you mean? I don't want anything?"  
  
"Are you sick?"  
  
"No."  
  
"Is something troubling you?"  
  
"Not at the moment."  
  
He stayed quiet but stared at Aria, seeing if her expression would slip. She felt her eyebrow twitch as he continued to stare at her. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" Aria blurted out.  
  
"Why are you walking to school with me? I thought you didn't want anyone to know we knew each other?"  
  
"I changed my mind."  
  
"How so?"  
  
…  
  
Aria crossed her arms, a vein popping to her forehead. "I didn't know it was such a big deal for you. I'll just leave you alone then." She reached into her pocket to pull out her book, her pace quickening to walk ahead of Ichigo. He too, quickened his pace, keeping stride with her.  
  
"Hey, wait, I didn't mean it like that! I was just wondering why the change of heart? Can't blame a guy for asking."  
  
"Do I really have to explain myself to you? Maybe I just want some company." She had her nose in her book, but gave him a sideways glance. "Pansy."  
  
"You know I hate it when you call me that," he grumbled, looking the other way with half-lidded, constricted eyes.  
  
"Ichigoooooo!" Asano came running out of nowhere toward Ichigo, but stopped short when he saw Aria. His eyes completely white and mouth agape, stuck in mid-stride, as he gapped at Aria.  
  
"What's wrong with him?" Aria whispered, covering her mouth with her hand.  
  
"He's surprised to see you talking to me," Ichigo rolled his eyes, walked over and smacked Asano on his forehead before continuing his walk toward school. "Everyone thinks you're a loner."  
  
"I'm still a loner, just opening up more!" Aria defended, her finger pointed up in the air, her face mimicking his from earlier. Ichigo turned to look at her, slinging his book bag over his shoulder.  
  
"Are you sure you want to ruin your reputation? People will think your more approachable now." Aria shrugged.  
  
"They'll learn soon enough I only talk to people I want to." She followed after him, giving a small hey to Asano when she passed and walked next to Ichigo to continue their way to school. Asano finally unfroze, turning and quickly running to Ichigo's side, covering his mouth to whisper viciously in his ear with excitement.  
  
"Why's Blake talking and walking to school with you? Are you two friends? Do you know each other? How did this happen? Where was I when this happened? – Ichigo. Ichigo. Ichigo!" Ichigo pushed his face away, his eyebrow twitched with irritation.  
  
"Will you stop that!? He wanted to talk to me first. If you want to know why and how you ask him!"  
  
"What!" Asano exclaimed, sweat pouring down his face. "But he doesn't like me! I can't ask him anything!"  
  
"He doesn't hate you. Besides, what's the worst he could do? It's only a question." Ichigo sighed at his friend's stupidity. Why does he hangout with him again?  
  
"You know," Aria began, turning her head with a narrowed, angry eye. "I don't like it when people talk about me behind my back, literally. I'm right here, morons." Asano sweated more, scratching the back of his head with embarrassment.  
  
"What? Us? No! Not us. We would never do such a thing!" Aria rolled her eyes and turned around again to read and walk.  
  
"So you guys weren't just discussing about if I hate you or not?"  
  
"What!" Asano shook his head back and forth rapidly, his hands in front of him defensively. No, no, no, no, no… well – since were on the subject…" he laughed sheepishly, scratching the back of his head.  
  
"I don't hate you," she answered for him, not looking back at him as she spoke. "I don't know you. You haven't gave me a reason to hate or dislike you – yet."  
  
Asano pumped his hand in the air, slightly jumping when he did. "Yes!"  
  
Aria was glaring at him over her shoulder. "And now you gave me a reason to not like you." Asano cried. Aria faced forward and smiled at his antics. He was actually amusing, he was making her smile which was rare with someone she hardly knew. "I was only kidding."  
  
At school, everyone gawked. Aria, or Blake as everyone else knew/thought she was, walked in-between the two boys conversing like they were good friends. Aria ignored all the stares like she did every day, but Asano was walking with euphoria from all the looks he was receiving. He was already scooping out all the girls who were leaning in and whispering to their friends as they watched them walk. Ichigo, however, was scowling and walking with his eyes closed, trying his best to ignore all the looks they were receiving. He could already feel his eyebrow twitching with irritation.  
  
"Blake," A familiar voice called. She looked up to see Uryuu walking over to the three, his usual uncaring stare present.  
  
"Hey," Aria responded with a small smile. "What's up?"  
  
Uryuu returned the small smile, Ichigo's eyebrow slightly raised from the interaction. "I'm surprised to see you socializing. If I'm not mistaken, I remember you specifically saying you hated to interact with anyone outside of your… comfort zone." His eyes instantly shifting too Asano. Aria shrugged, looking back down at her book, putting up the act like she wasn't in the mood to talk.  
  
"I was getting bored."  
  
Uryuu pushed his glasses up, his smile returning. "I guess that's a valid reason." The warning bell rang, the four teens walked into school and into homeroom. Aria took her usual spot next to the window, ignoring the stares she was receiving as she took out her material for the class.  
  
The day went by well, Aria continued to open up to Ichigo and his friends. Walking to and from class with one and even gave Asano attention when he tried to converse with her. She had to admit to herself that it felt – nice, talking to her friends. Every time the word 'friend' crossed her mind, she couldn't help but think how only a month ago she would be running away from the thought of it. Now, was different. She was enjoying herself. Something that felt so foreign, but also felt so right. She could get use to that feeling.  
  
But…  
  
She was still planning on leaving after the whole Roy situation passed. Why?... she kept on asking that herself. Would it be so bad to continue living in Karakura town? There was a reason why she had to leave. She had to protect the people she was growing to… she was growing to love, and she also had to protect herself.  
  
"Asano," Aria began as she walked up to said boy. He was putting his books away in his small locker and grabbing his lunch. He turned when he heard Aria call his name, a bright smile instantly lighting up his face.  
  
"Blake!" he waved at her and closed his locker. Aria walked up to him and waited until he was fully turned toward her. "What's up?"  
  
"Do you guys eat up on the roof every lunch period?" Asano nodded.  
  
"Sure do. Why? Do you wanna join us for lunch!?" He sounded hopeful, his eyes sparkling with hope and joy. Aria couldn't help but chuckle at his innocent behavior.  
  
"I was planning on it. Have you seen Ichigo around by any chance?"  
  
Asano scratched his head as he thought about it. "Not yet. He's probably already heading to the roof right now as we speak." Aria nodded and started to walk past him to head to the roof. "Hey, I'll come with you!" He ran up and fell in sync with her walk, his lunch bag swinging at his side. "Hey, I was wondering," he started, looking down at Aria, (who was only an inch or two shorter than him), with question. "How long have you known Ichigo? You two seemed like old friends this morning walking into school?" Aria glanced up at the brunette and shrugged her shoulders before looking ahead again.  
  
"A month or so."  
  
"You've known him for a month or was friends with him for a month?"  
  
"Well, the first week, to tell you the truth, I didn't much care for him, but something happened and now we're pretty good friends. Why you ask?"  
  
"O-oh, nothing, just wondering." Asano laughed a weird laugh, causing Aria to look over at him with a raised eyebrow. She shrugged it off and continued their walk to the roof.  
  
Like Asano predicted, Ichigo was already on the roof eating his lunch. With him was Mizuiro, and Chad, all three sitting around each other and conversing. Asano, being the goofball he was, ran over to their group with a huge grin on his face. When he was close enough Ichigo looked up toward his friend, then his eyes moved to Aria's approaching form. "So, you're going to eat with us?" He asked with a smile. Aria shrugged her shoulders.  
  
"Why not, I have nothing better to do." Ichigo narrowed his eyes, annoyed yet more on the playful side.  
  
"I'm glad to know you only want to hang with us when you get bored." Aria smiled lightly and shrugged her shoulders. She turned her gaze toward chad and smiled, extending her hand to the tall and tan male.  
  
"We haven't been properly introduced," she tried her best to sound polite, a warm smile present. "Names Blake, and you are?" Chad took her hand without hesitation.  
  
"Yatsutora Sado, or you can call me Chad. It's nice to meet Blake Diederich." They shook once before letting go. Aria instantly noted how firm, yet soft his grip was. She could already tell he was a gentle giant.  
  
"Chad," she began, turning her body sideways and sticking her hands in her pockets. "Are you Mexican, or part?" Chad nodded replying he was part, which in return Aria smiled. "¿También hablas español también." Chad looked at her with surprise, blinking a couple of times.  
  
"Sí. ¿Eres fluidez?" Aria smiled at his surprised… tone? At least, she thought he sounded surprised with the look he was giving her.  
  
"Si."  
  
"Wait a minute," Asano raised his eyebrows at the two, his eyes settling on Aria. "You can speak Spanish, too? How many languages do you know?" Aria smiled, closed her eyes and shrugged.  
  
"Ten or so."  
  
"Ten or so!?" His eyes were the side of saucers, in complete disbelief. "That's crazy! Are you a genius?" Aria couldn't help but chuckle, Ichigo's friends were so amusing.  
  
"I wouldn't say genius, more like… I had a lot of time on my hands when I was little."  
  
"A lot of time? How so?"  
  
Ichigo grimaced slightly from Asano's questions. He knew Aria didn't like to talk about her past, he watched her carefully to see what her reaction would be. Surprisingly, he didn't see anything pass through her eyes, she still looked stoic as ever.  
  
"I was homeschooled, my… aunt was a linguistics, so she taught me all the languages she knew. Being so young, being fluent in the different languages was simple." She smiled smugly when she saw Asano continuing to gape at her. "It's really nothing special."  
  
Asano continued asking questions, much to Ichigo's dismay, but Aria didn't mind. She answered each one truthfully, or as close to the truth she could get without everyone knowing who or what she was. He had to admit to himself, she seemed happy. More happy than usual. Just a month ago he could remember how she scowled more than him; talked less than him as well. She wasn't an open person. But now, she was socializing, her true personality coming to light. He wondered what changed.  
  
Uryuu joined their group as well. He felt Aria's presence up on the roof and came to inspect only to find her opening up to Ichigo and his friends. He decided he would finish his lunch on the roof as well, he enjoyed talking to Aria, especially since she didn't have anything moronic to say about every little things like other people.  
  
Orihime and Tatsuki joined halfway through lunch, their little group turning into a full house. Everything seemed normal, like they were all normal teens.  
  
"Um… hello there…" Everyone looked up to see a girl with long, dark brown hair with matching eyes and rosy cheeks, speak with nervousness. She was fiddling her thumbs together and occasionally looked up to meets Blake's staring eyes. "Um… Blake…"  
  
"Yes?" She answered, already having a gut feeling why this girl was standing in front of their little group with blushing cheeks, and a nervous flicker in her eyes.  
  
"I'm sorry if I'm b-bothering you, but I wanted to ask you a question…" she trailed off, her hesitation irking Aria.  
  
"Just spit it out already, lunch won't last forever."  
  
Her eyes grew wide as she looked away from the piercing blue eyes of the person she knew as Blake. "I-I w-was wondering if y-you wanted to go to the dance next week with me." Aria didn't hesitate with her response.  
  
"No."  
  
The girl looked at her startled, her eyes growing wide with rejection clear on her face. She looked devastated. Aria shook her head and turned the other way, getting annoyed that she was just standing there looking at her with hurt in her eyes. The girl bowed and walked away, her face growing redder from embarrassment and hurt.  
  
"That was pretty harsh," Asano said, turning back to look down at his food. Aria shrugged her shoulders.  
  
"Whatever. I need to be mean in hopes they'll let up soon. I'm getting sick and tired of being asked out every day. You would think they would get the hint."  
  
"But how can you say no to that!" Asano practically cried, his arms flailing in the air like it meant something. "They're all so hot! And their bodies! How can you not say yes to that?" Tears fell from his eyes. He let his arms fall to the side, letting them lie limp as he cried. "You're so lucky! I have no one that wants to go with me!" Aria rolled her eyes.  
  
"Do you really want to go that badly?"  
  
"Of course! I can't go unless we have a date. The stupid student committee made it a stupid rule!" He crossed his arms, sticking his bottom lip out in a pout. Aria smiled at his innocent cuteness.  
  
"I know someone who would be willing to go with you." That got Ichigo's attention. Asano perked up, his tears stopped.  
  
"Yeah? Who?"  
  
"My sister."  
  
"What?!" Both Ichigo and Asano exclaimed. Asano more out of excitement, Ichigo out of complete surprise.  
  
"Yeah, her name is Aria. She likes those sort of things," she said with a smile, her eyes moving to Ichigo to see his mouth agape and eyes white with disbelief. She held back a laugh. This time, Orihime leaned forward in their little circle, her eyes wide with excitement.  
  
"Are you serious, Blake? She's really going?"  
  
"Yeah," Ichigo said with confusion clear in his voice. "Aria, your sister, your twin sister, will be going?" He was leaning in, his eyes boring into hers, waiting for the answer. Aria shrugged her shoulders.  
  
"Yeah, like I said, she likes those sort of things," she smiled at his confusion. "She likes to dress up once in a while. God knows how long since the last time she wore a dress."  
  
"And you do know how much a dress shows?"  
  
"They make dresses that cover up… certain parts." He was referring to her scars. Asano began to squirm in his spot, his excitement evident on his actions.  
  
"Are you serious?! I'm so excited! You said twin? Exact twin? What color is her hair? What she like? Do you guys have the same personalities…?" he continued on and on and on. Aria ignored him.  
  
"Aw," Orihime sat back, her disappointment clear. "I would like to go too, but I have no one to go with." Aria smiled, her sly eyes moving to Ichigo.  
  
"You can go with Ichigo."  
  
"WAAAHHHHHH!?" she fell backwards, her face redder than a cherry. She quickly fixed herself, sitting back up and running her hands down her skirt, but her cheeks were still aflame, her eyes darted over to Ichigo.  
  
"What the hell, Blake?! I don't want to go to some stupid dance!" Ichigo yelled, his own cheeks tinged pink. Why did she have to say his name? Aria waved him off.  
  
"Don't listen to him, Orihime, he's just shy. He's been talking about asking you for the last week but couldn't sum up the courage to do so."  
  
Orihime's face was priceless. She began to spew out incoherent words, her head shacking back and forth so quick her face was a blur. Ichigo was almost in the same predicament, his face too, was as red as a cherry, but he was sweating profusely, he couldn't even form words. Finally, though, he was able to speak.  
  
"That's a lie! Even if that was true, I wouldn't be shy about it!" Aria rolled her eyes.  
  
"Whatever, Ichigo, just go will you? I need someone to watch over my sister anyways," her sly smile returned to her face causing Ichigo to eye her suspiciously. "I'll even let you have a slow dance with her if that makes you feel any better?"  
  
An arm wrapped around her head, forcing her into a headlock. Ichigo continuously rubbed his knuckles against her scalp, tears forming in her eyes. She pushed against his hands in a failed attempt to make him release her but his grip only tightened. "Let me go you pansy dumbass!" she yelled through his sleeve. He wouldn't let up.  
  
"Oh? And why should I?" his response came out like a growl. "Maybe if you stop lying I might let up."  
  
Her arm flew up and elbowed him in the gut, and when he released her to press his hands against his stomach, her elbow made contact with his head, flinging him backwards into the pavement below. He twitched on the ground with pain which caused Aria to stare down at him with triumph. "Idiot."  
  
He shot up and rubbed his chin and the back of his head where it smacked against the pavement, shooting a glare at Aria. "You know that hurts, a lot."  
  
"It's supposed to." The whole time the two were fooling around, Orihime continued her own embarrassed twitching with only one thought racing through her mind: did Ichigo actually wanted to go to the dance with her? No, it couldn't be. Of course, she wanted to go the dance and wanted Ichigo to ask her, but she never thought he would. He never acted like he returned her feelings… but… but…  
  
"Orihime? Are you okay?" Tatsuki asked, staring at her friends sitting next to her with worry. Orihime had her mouth agape, her face still red as a cherry as sweat poured from her pours. Apparently she was still in shock. Tatsuki sighed when she didn't get a response. She turned and looked over at Blake, her eyes narrowing. She didn't trust the guy still. There just wasn't something right about him, he was definitely hiding something. But it seemed Orihime trusted him and even said they hung out a couple of times after school. She sighed again. He was hiding something but he didn't seem like he wanted to hurt any of her friends. Hell, even Uryuu seemed to have warmed up to him. Actually, she seen them conversing a lot lately. They've seemed to become good friends. Maybe Uryuu knew his secret? If so, would he tell her?  
  
Lunch was over soon, the group of friends dispersed. Aria, Uryuu, and Orihme walked together to their next class since the three shared the same class. Ichigo said his goodbyes and walked with Asano back to their class. So far, today was a good day. Almost like it was normal, like he was a normal teen. He almost laughed at the thought. Before he became a substitute soul reaper he always longed to be normal. Now that he was losing his soul reaper powers completely, he was one step closer to becoming normal. But unlike then, he wasn't longing for it. He has the power to protect the ones he loved, and that alone gave him pleasure and happiness. He couldn't protect his mother all those years ago… but now he had the power to protect, and after having a taste of that power, he didn't want to let it go. He wanted to continue protecting, no matter what.  
  
He shook his head. He sat down in his seat and splayed his books out on his desk. It wasn't the time to think about that. He'll deal with it when the time came.  
  
But dammit, why couldn't he stop thinking about it.  
  
He had to distract himself. He looked outside the window, trying to find something to concentrate as the teacher lectured. His eyes grew wide at what he saw. He definitely found something to get his mind of that subject completely.  
  
Outside was Aria. She was standing at the school gates conversing with someone. She was tense, he could see her stiffness all the way up to where he was on the second floor. He squinted his eyes to see who she was talking to.  
  
It was that Jade girl.  
  
He stood up quickly, his seat making a rather loud squeaking noise making everyone around to look at him. "I have to go to the bathroom!" He said then ran out, not waiting for his teachers' response. He ran down the stairs and out the front school doors to the courtyard. He looked toward the gates, but she was no longer there.  
  
What he felt next made him sprint as fast as he could toward home.  
  
He felt Aria giving out a massive amount of spiritual pressure. Where she was at made his heart almost leap out of his chest.  
  
She was at his house, fighting with than man names Roy.


End file.
